Both wastes and tramps are disgusting for most of us. But a man living in east China's Shandong Province loves both of them.

Li Junmin is an oddity with many odd features in the eye of many. He is known as "The Maddest Man" in his hometown of Lijin County:

Li, now 36, was born with only one ear. He was once hospitalized for mental illness. He once made quite a good fortune by reclaiming plastic wastes and later lost it after he turned his house and the recycle factory into a home for homeless people who are mostly mentally retarded.

In his childhood, Li was discriminated against. As an elementary school pupil, the one-ear boy scared away his classmates and became so isolated that he had to drop out.

He lost his sense in an accident and turned mad. Later he was sent to hospital by his family. In 1994, he went out of mind again and left home. A few months later, he was brought back by neighbors.

In 1995, Li made his fortune by recycling plastic wastes and the booming business made him somebody in his hometown.

In a Winter day of 1997, Li took home a beggar who then became his first "collection" other than used plastic goods. Since then, he has accepted about 10 homeless people per month. He has sent most of them back home, but a few of them chose to stay.

Li named his house "The Home of Compassion" and tried hard to provide a normal life to the former beggars. Every morning, they get up to the tune of the National Song.

Though a benevolent person, his behavior has been so controversial that a public debate on whether he is good or bad has never stopped in the county. What makes the owner of the "The Home of Compassion" controversial is that some of the lodgers worked for a while.

Some of these people were leased out, at 10 yuan a day, to work for neighbor villagers, or Li asked the villagers to provide the temporary laborers with meals instead of money.

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

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

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

One thing is sure. With these lodgers at home, Li has lost what he used to own and is turning himself as poor as these former beggars.

Li, who lives with his wife and two daughters, is not regretful for what he has done. "I have done this, simply because I used to be a mentally retarded person and a vagrant myself," he says.

His family supports him and his wife and daughters have joined him to help the needy.

Over the past seven years, Li has "collected" nearly 1,000 vagrants, and currently, about 40 of these people stay at Li's home.

Local government has come to help. The civil affairs department of the county assisted "The Home of Compassion" with 20 bags wheat powder, 20 cotton-stuffed overcoats, and 30 Cotton-stuffed quilts.

Li is not satisfied with the government donations and he has demanded more. "These people cost me 5,000 yuan (about 620 US dollars) a month," he says, pointing to these men sitting under the sunshine.

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

The majority of the lodgers are men, but there are a few exceptions. Now, three tramps are living at the room of Li's wife.

Fortunately, Li has won support from his neighbor villagers and most importantly, the secretary of the village's branch committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Liu Mengling.

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

Li still cherishes his dream, to help build up a comfortable asylum for the homeless.

Questioned what he would do if his money runs out, Li replies, "I'll go begging together with these former tramps, once I go bankrupt."

(Xinhua News Agency September 26, 2005)