Zhang Jianhua at the shop she worked
This report, published on November 8, 1986, was the first of a seriess. Several days later, the customer wrote to China Daily and claimed the money. The stories written by Nie Lisheng, Yao Xiang and Xu Jie were picked up by many domestic media outlets. The report won the top award for National Best News of 1986.
By our staff reporter
A young woman shop assistant came to China Daily yesterday, asking to buy an ad seeking a foreign customer whom she has mistakenly short-changed when he bought a cup of yoghurt.
When Zhang Jianhua, 26, of the Beijing Xiangtaiyi Food Shop in Dongdan Street, served the foreigner on November 3, she mistook a 50-yuan Foreign Exchange Certificate for a 5-yuan note.
"He looked like an American or European student. He bought the yoghurt at about 6:00 on Monday evening. Soon after he left, I discovered my mistake," Zhang told China Daily.
"I immediately ran out to look for him, but he was gone. I couldn't sleep for two nights worrying about the bad influence my mistake might have. Finally, I decided to advertise in China Daily," Zhang said.
"Many customers were buying things when I served him, and it was the first time I ever saw foreign exchange currency," she explained.
With a monthly salary of only 51 yuan ($13.8), the woman seemed undaunted by the high expense of a small ad that might cost twice her wage.
"It was my fault," she told the ad salesman who asked why she didn't ask her shop to take responsibility.
China Daily decided to give her a special discount for the ad, which is on Page 8 today. When they heard her story, leaders of her shop decided to reimburse her.
On December 17, 1986, China Daily published the report"Honest clerk in spotlight" and followed up on the story. It turned out that the foreigner who bought the cup of yoghurt was a Canadian tourist, Gerald Schreiber.
In a letter that he sent from Lhasa, capital of Tibet Autonomous Region, to China Daily, he wrote: "I was very impressed that someone would put so much effort into correcting something that she thought was her fault. She is a credit to humanity."
Nearly 20 years after China Daily told the story of Zhang Jianhua, we tried to locate the honest shop clerk but the shop at Beijing's Dongcheng District closed down in the early 1990s to make way for Oriental Plaza, one of the largest shopping malls in Beijing.
Despite extensive efforts, we could not contact her. But her spirit has always encouraged us to go forward.
(China Daily 05/31/2006 page3)
