HANGZHOU - On a cold winter morning, Wang Wanlin, 68, sets off for a local police station to obtain a residence permit for "his son" Yao Bing, but Yao is not really his son.

Wang heard that 16-year-old Yao Bing was wandering the streets of Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, after Yao's father died earlier this year. When his father died, Yao, who was born mentally handicapped and has debilitating back problems, lost the only family member who could care for him.

"I found him on the street and brought him home. I give him food and shelter. I want to help him apply for his residence registration so he can request subsidies and medical insurance and become qualified for low-rent housing," Wang says.

Wang has also found Yao a job in a barbershop, where he can do some simple work and make a bit of money.

Yao's, however, is not an isolated case. He is the 507th young person Wang has helped in the past 33 years.

The first act of kindness

Wang still remembers the first child he helped in 1979.

"It was a boy, 14 or 15. He was standing at a bus station, wearing thin rags and looking distracted, and he didn't seem to be waiting for a bus," Wang says.

After enquiring, he learned that the young man from Jiangxi Province had been duped into a job as a miner in Zhejiang. He had escaped to Hangzhou by hiding in a truck carrying coal several days before meeting Wang.

Wang took the young man, Feng Yuyin, home that night, and bought him a train ticket home to Zhejiang a few days later.

"They are so young, but facing the crossroads of their lives. I don't want them to be corrupted by bad people, that's why I keep helping them," Wang says, adding that he hopes his help can keep them out of trouble.

Staying in touch

Wang recently received a call from an unknown number. When he answered, he was excited to learn it was Yu Yifeng, a young person he helped 18 years ago who now lives in Anhui Province.

Children or teens, like Yu, that Wang has helped have shown their gratitude to Wang in various ways in recent years. Some pick up the phone, while others visit him from time to time.

"Those are the happiest times of my life," Wang says.

Wang lives in an old apartment in Hangzhou. With two rooms and a parlor, the most decent furniture he owns are two big beds, and he has offered them to three young people currently staying with him.

Wang says when he was young, his own family couldn't surmount difficulties without the help of some kind people, as his family was very poor and hard to support, and that's why he helps others.

"He (Wang Wanlin) taught us how to live, how to be a good man, to honor our parents, to love our family and jobs," said Zhou Guoqing, another person Wang has helped.

Zhou says he sometimes volunteers to join Wang on visits to elderly communities, where he cuts hair and offers massages to people living there.

"An envoy of God"

Though hundreds call him "Papa Wang," he has no children of his own.

"When kids aren't at home, the cat keeps me company. I never feel lonely, because I have children and grandchildren all around the country," Wang says as he eyes some shoes scattered on the floor of his apartment.

Wang reads letters and looks at photos his "children" send him or tells others his stories when he misses the young people he's helped over the years.

"I don't need anything in return, just a phone call from them to know that they are safe and sound," he added.

"He is not a common person, but an envoy of God. Most of us cannot be as selfless as him, and may the old man enjoy the rest of his life and may those children treat him well," netizen "xiangtudouyiyangshenghuo" commented on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter.

"Pingguoming," another Weibo user, noted that after media reported on Wang, most people in Hangzhou were moved by his actions.

"He must be the most beautiful father in the world," "pingguoming" suggested.