Repair shop owner still walks in shoes of 'Lei Feng'

The most precious thing in Meng Guangbin’s 30-square-meter shoe repair shop is his “Lei Feng” trademark.

The 55-year-old Meng, who runs a shoe repair shop in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, registered in 1998 the name of his shop as “Lei Feng”, which became the first “Lei Feng” trademark in the country.

Over the past 31 years, he has mended over 120,000 shoes for free and donated more than 30,000 yuan ($4,365) to poverty-stricken students.

In 1988, Meng arrived in Harbin from Dongping county, East China’s Shandong province, and since then devoted himself to the business of shoemaking.

“At that time, I only had a stall near Harbin Normal University and the simple shed couldn’t help withstand the extreme cold in Harbin’s winter,” he recalls. “I still remember the day that a senior man gave me his cotton-padded coat when he found my frozen hands had left me unable to work.”

“The old man and his coat brought me great warmth and made me decide to repay the city I had considered as my second hometown,” he said. “Even though I am not rich, I can do something for people in need.”