'Corbie' (R) shows the homeless man how to use the matches and candles in a cave in Mount Qinling where he has been living on November 25. [newsphoto]

A woman in Xi'an traveled 120 kilometres nearly every weekend for more than a half year to take care of a deaf and dumb homeless man living in a cave, newsphoto.com reported on November 26.

The twenty-five-year-old woman who goes by the name 'Crying Corbie' on the Internet and is dubbed 'Corbie' by her net friends, works as an editor on a magazine in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

She met the anonymous homeless man by accident when she was touring Mount Qinling in May and was greatly shocked by his condition. The old man with a lame leg lived in a huge crack in a rock beside a footpath on the mountain and could not speak or hear.

In the half year after she first saw the homeless man, 'Corbie' went to climb Mount Qinling nearly every weekend and brought food and clothes to him.

At first, villagers nearby thought the woman was the old man's daughter, and reproached her for who they believed to be the immoral girl who left her father in the wild. It was not until November 25 when 'Corbie' came again with the reporter that they came to know the truth.

The previous day, 'Corbie' learned on TV that Mount Qinling was expecting the first snow of the year, and thought of the old man.

"It is cold and damp in the cave, and water drips from the stone," she said. "The old man has wounds on his leg. I don't know if he could stand it," she said. So she wrote in a posting on the net, calling on netizens to lend a helping hand.

Her posting was echoed by a large number of warm-hearted people, who donated cotton clothes, waterproof mats, ham, candles and other things. With the help of the correspondent, 'Corbie' collected all the donations in Xi'an and brought them to the old man in the remote mountain area.

"He has been living there for more than four years. No one knows who he is or where he comes from," a resident in the nearby village told the reporter. "He often begs for food in the village."

There was ten centimeters of snow on the mountain when 'Corbie' arrived at the cave. She woke up the old man, who was sleeping, gave him the milk and quilts and other goods, and showed him how to use the matches and candles.

The man couldn't speak and just nodded.

'Corbie' left the number of her QQ messenger account with the reporter (56738493) hoping that more people would join her in helping the old man. She said she believes there is always love and care in the world.

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