Tramps and wasters are not always looked upon favourably, but a man living in east China's Shandong Province appears to view them with compassion.

Li Junmin is an oddity in the eyes of many and he is known as "The Maddest Man" in his hometown of Lijin County.

Li, now 36, was born with only one ear and has been diagnosed previously for mental illness.

He once made a living by recycling plastic waste until he transformed his factory into a shelter for the homeless, in particular those who are mentally retarded.

In his childhood, Li was severely bullied by his piers at elementary school for having only one ear. He eventually felt so isolated that he dropped out of school.

After an accident Li developed a serious mental illness and went mad and was eventually taken to hospital by his family. In 1994, he became so disturbed that he left home only to be returned a few months later by his neighbours.

In 1995, Li started his plastic waste recycling business and the booming enterprise made him a rich person and gave him some status for the first time in his hometown.

On a winter's day in 1997, Li took pity on a beggar and took him home and looked after him. Since then, he has been accommodating about 10 homeless people per month. Most of them have now returned to their homes but a few of them still remain under his care.

Li named his house "The Home of Compassion" and tried hard to provide a normal life for the former beggars. Every morning, they are awoken by the National Anthem.

Controversial Figure

Though a benevolent person, his behaviour has been so controversial that public debate about whether he is good or bad has never ceased in the county.

What makes the owner of "The Home of Compassion" a controversial one is that some of the lodgers worked for a while under his care.

Some of these people were leased out, at 10 yuan (US$1.2) a day, to work in surrounding villages, or villagers were asked to provide the temporary labourers with meals instead of money by Li.

"First I wanted them to work to earn their bread, but soon I found it impossible," said Li, who finally gave up the idea and just let the beggars remain idle.

This, however, has caused some trouble for Li. Some of his neighbours have doubted his motives, saying that he is making money from them.

"How could I make money from those who don't even have the basic intelligence to take care of themselves?" Li said.

One thing is certain, however, that with these lodgers at home, Li has lost what he used to own and is becoming as poor as these former beggars.

Li, who lives with his wife and two daughters, has no regrets for what he has done.

"I have done this, simply because I used to suffer from mental illness and was a vagrant like many of these homeless individuals," he said.

His family gives him their full support and his wife and daughters have joined him to help the less fortunate.

Over the past seven years, Li has homed and cared for nearly 1,000 vagrants, and currently, about 40 of these people remain at Li's home.

The local government has come to assist him. The civil affairs department of the county provided "The Home of Compassion" with 20 bags of wheat powder, 20 cotton-stuffed overcoats, and 30 cotton-stuffed quilts.

Li, however, is not satisfied with the government donations and has requested for further aid.

Li's home is also "recycling" the tramps, by sending most of them back home once they are in a fitter state, while new ones keep coming in.

The majority of the lodgers are men, but there are a few exceptions, three female former tramps are living under the care of Li's wife.

Fortunately, Li has won the support of community members and most importantly, the secretary of the village's branch committee of the Communist Party of China Liu Mengling.

Liu, who speaks highly of what Li has done, has helped the latter into the Party. "In my eyes, Li is the best person in China," the village Party leader says.

Li still cherishes his dream of helping build up a comfortable asylum for the homeless.

Questioned what he would do if his money runs out, Li replied, "I will go begging together with these former tramps should I go bankrupt."
  
(China Daily October 8, 2005)