A mid-aged man in a T-shirt baring a big heart drew people's attention on Wangfujing Street in central Beijing on Thursday as he smiled to everyone who walked by.

Liu Xinhong smiles to a passer-by on Wangfujing Street in central Beijing on August 23, 2007.

If someone cared to stop, he would bring forth documents showing the fact that his son was seriously ill and he needed help.

The smiling man, Liu Xinhong, is a farmer from Jingzhou City in central China's Hubei Province, according to the Jinghua Times.

His only son, who is 21 years old, was diagnosed with leukemia last July, and they came to Beijing for treatments.

He had spent all of the 100,000 yuan (about US$13,212) of savings for his son's treatments before coming to Beijing in March, and has since spent another 100,000 yuan borrowed from relatives and friends.

"The doctors say that my son needs bone marrow transplantation, but that will cost 400 to 500 grand," Liu Xinhong was quoted as saying, and that's why he came up with the idea of selling smiles.

However, he only received 4 yuan of donation from morning to noon on Thursday.

(CRIENGLISH.com August 26, 2007)