Private school offers to educate ‘Ice Boy’ for free, then tells him to leave after a week

The 8-year-old boy will have to return to trekking for an hour to reach his old primary school

An 8-year-old boy from rural Yunnan province who became an internet celebrity in China earlier this year after a photo went viral showing him at the end of his freezing journey to school has been asked to leave his new private school after just one week with the school’s headmaster apparently unable to deal with the attention and scrutiny his new pupil’s fame brings.

Wang Fuman used to have to walk 4.5 kilometers every day to get to his primary school in mountainous Zhaotong, one of the poorest regions in China. One morning in January, he made that hour-long trek as temperatures dropped to a frigid -8 degrees Celsius outside. Arriving at school, Fuman’s teacher snapped a photo of the little boy with his hair and eyebrows covered in ice.

That photo changed everything for Fuman. He quickly became an internet sensation, receiving well wishes and donations from strangers across the country and was even taken on a dream trip with his family to Beijing, where he got to learn about becoming a police officer and experience the wonder of central indoor heating for the first time.

In addition, touched by Fuman’s story, the headmaster of a private school in the city offered to take the little boy in free of charge. He could board at the school, meaning no more freezing treks through the mountains, and he would receive a better education from the more experienced and qualified teachers at the school.

So, last week, when the new semester started up, Fuman began taking classes at his new school.

However, on Tuesday afternoon, the school called Fuman’s father, Wang Gangkui, and asked him to come pick up his son and take him back to his old public school, the South China Morning Post reports.

The headmaster, surnamed Yang, told SCMP that he had hoped to “do some good” by taking in Fuman, but hadn’t realized all of the headaches that such a gesture would bring him, complaining about the increased government and media attention that came with hosting China’s famous little “Ice Boy.”

At first, I didn’t know … but later, I found out that Fuman had been identified by the Ministry of Education as a key figure to be helped in the government’s poverty alleviation efforts. There are very few such pupils in the whole Yunnan province.

As a result, during these days of having him in my school, we received numerous requests from various levels of government departments to inspect us. Many media outlets also insisted on interviewing us. It was impossible for me to reject many of these requests.

Yang explained that while some of his teachers said the school should publicize its new student in the media, he wanted to stay out of the spotlight completely and continue to run an “ordinary school.” He added that he plans to keep heling Fuman, just in a more low-key manner, when Wang arrived to pick up his son, Yang gave the father 15,000 yuan.

Wang was reportedly stunned by the school’s decision to kick his son out after only one week. Fuman, also, was obviously disappointed, telling SCMP about how much he had liked his new school, its better teachers, more studious students, and tasty food:

The teachers taught better than those at Zhuanshanbao Primary School. Pupils don’t talk in class and everyone is focused on studying.

I lived there and didn’t need to walk a long way to get to school. I only needed to join running exercises every morning.

I ate better, too. Unlike at home, when my granny is busy, my sister and I need to find food for ourselves … because we don’t know how to cook, we just boil potatoes, but at Xinhua school I ate so many different things.

And so, it appears that China’s little “Ice Boy” must return to his ramshackle home in the countryside, living in poverty with his elderly grandmother, older sister, and father.

Working for years as a migrant worker, only getting to see his children once or twice a year, Fuman’s father returned back home after his son became an internet celebrity. He was then offered a construction job nearby by a local company so that he could stay close to his children.

However, Wang told SCMP that he had not yet started his new job with the company explaining that it doesn’t have any work for him at the moment.

Meanwhile, Fuman and his sister marked the Chinese New Year last month by penning a touching letter to their mom, who had left home two years ago, asking her to please come back for the holiday.

“We don’t want to search for you any longer, I wish that you were like other mothers, beating me and scolding me, at least that way you would be back by my side,” Fuman read aloud from his letter.

Unfortunately, his mother has not returned home. Her whereabouts remain unknown.