- Online influencers try to gain an advantage from homeless man’s wisdom and learning, but he says all he cares about is reading
- Shen Wei has been living on the streets for 17 years and says he just wants to be left in peace after his online brush with fame
Videos of Shen Wei have been gaining momentum on Chinese social media since Wednesday, earning at least 14 million post views on microblogging site Weibo.
But despite the attention he has attracted, Shen said he would rather be left alone and told people that if they really cared about him they should read more books.
In one of these videos, the scavenger was filmed discussing the merits of Liao Fan’s Four Lessons, a Ming dynasty work from the 16th century, and the Analects.
Other videos show dozens of people swarming around him with their phones held out to catch a shot of him near an unfurnished building.
A March 20 video report by Thepaper.cn said they were online influencers hoping an appearance of Shen in their videos would gain them more views.
The report also showed several well-dressed young women seen live streaming with Shen before being ushered away by others who want their turn.
But Shen appeared unconcerned about his brush with online fame and dismissed suggestions that he was to be pitied.
“Since I was young, everything I’ve done has always been about reading,” Shen told news portal Thepaper.cn.
He told Red Star News he has been living on the streets of the city’s Pudong district since he was evicted from his flat in 2002.
Shen spends most of his days picking rubbish and sorting through it and also enjoys reading, drawing and caring for stray cats.
When he was young, he did not have enough money to buy books, he continued. So he picked rubbish and sold whatever was valuable. The habit stayed with him, even after he started working at the Xuhui district audit bureau.
His manager reprimanded him for collecting rubbish at work and thought he had a mental illness and decided to suspend him.
He is still technically an employee of the bureau and has been on sick leave since 1993. Shen continues to receive a sickness benefit of around 2000 yuan (US$300) a month, according to the report. The bureau said it was looking into why he continues to be paid after all these years.
The former civil servant has been sent to a psychiatric hospital for assessment twice, according to Thepaper. The results of the assessment were not known.
The 52-year-old also said that his brother and two sisters had cut off contact with him.
But despite an outpouring of sympathy on social media, Shen did not take kindly to the attention he received.
“At first glance, I pitied him. When he started speaking about the knowledge in the books, I pitied myself,” a Weibo user from Sichuan wrote. “He might be wearing ragged clothes but he has dignity and freedom. Many of us are dressed in suits but are constrained by our materialism.”
“Out of politeness, I won’t turn away anyone… But if you really care about me, please read more books,” Shen said in the video. “I can’t really handle this. I just want peace and quiet. I don’t want the attention.”
The online influencers who helped bring him to public attention also attracted widespread criticism for apparently taking advantage of his situation.
“What kind of world is this? Before nobody paid him any attention. Now internet influencers are buzzing around him like flies,” one user commented.
Source: SCMP
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