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A reunion between Chinese language basketball legend Yao Ming and a boy who, aged 9, was hailed as a nationwide hero for his actions within the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, has touched many individuals on mainland social media.
The world seemed on in awe, when, on the Beijing Olympics of the identical yr, 2.29 metre-tall Yao, held the hand of a nine-year-old boy as they led out the 1,099-strong China workforce on the opening ceremony parade.
That boy was Lin Hao, who had been hailed as a nationwide hero for selflessly saving two of his classmates after the devastating 8.0-magnitude earthquake hit Wenchuan county in southwestern China’s Sichuan province on Could 12, 2008.
Lin was a main faculty pupil in Yingxiu city, the epicentre of the quake.
When the earthquake hit, he risked his life to avoid wasting his classmates in collapsed buildings.
In an interview following the Olympics opening, Yao, holding Lin in his arms, mentioned the teen was the “hope for China’s future”. He predicted that Lin would keep in mind his nice second and inform his grandson about it.
Earlier this month, 16 years after that nice day, the pair met once more.
On March 5, on the CBA All-Star Weekend held in Xiamen, in southeastern China’s Fujian province, the 43-year-old president of the Chinese language Basketball Affiliation Yao Ming walked onto the stage with Lin.
Lin, now 25, is the part-time deputy secretary of the Communist Youth League of Yingxiu, his hometown, and founding father of a start-up e-commerce firm that helps native farmers promote and promote their produce.
He additionally works as a volunteer tour information in his spare time, telling earthquake and reconstruction tales to vacationers.
In January, Lin additionally introduced he was to marry a Tibetan girl.
Lin mentioned he didn’t anticipate Yao to recollect him, however the second Yao noticed him, he congratulated him on his marriage.
Yao additionally joked to Lin on the stage: “You’ve got grown taller since then, and I’ve grown fats.”
For Lin, regardless of having not met Yao for 16 years, the reunion felt extra like an bizarre catch-up with an outdated buddy. He mentioned Yao patted him on the pinnacle after the occasion and informed him to “add oil”.
Yao retired from skilled basketball on the age of 30 in 2011 following a collection of accidents.
The previous NBA star’s transformation to develop into the chief of Chinese language basketball and businessman during the last decade has been thought-about successful by many.
Because the chairman of the Chinese language Basketball Affiliation from 2017 to 2023, Yao devoted himself to bringing extra market forces into the state-owned nationwide basketball league.
He additionally promoted youth academic schemes to domesticate extra Chinese language basketball expertise.
The reunion of Yao and Lin was described by many on-line observers as “assembly on the peak”.
“Lin Hao has additionally develop into an excellent younger man now, identical to Yao again then,” mentioned one individual on Douyin.
“It was like nothing has modified over the previous 16 years after they stood collectively once more,” mentioned one other.
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