Meet ex-sailor who 'adopted' parents of late friend

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Every year since 1999, Liao Liangkai has gone on a 3,000km pilgrimage from Sichuan province in southwestern China to Jilin in the northeast.

It's the 44-year-old former navy sailor's way of fulfilling a promise he made 21 years ago to look after the parents of a friend and shipmate who died while attempting to rescue a civilian.

The friend, Liu Jiqiang, was just 19 when he made the ultimate sacrifice and “died a hero.”

“Afterwards, I found myself constantly thinking about how I could help to take care of his parents, how to do something to make the parents feel their son is still alive, and look after them,” Liao told the broadcaster CCTV.

He decided to write a letter to Liu's parents, telling them he had been their son's shipmate and asking about their lives. The couple, Liu Yinzhi and Liang Guiru, were surprised to hear from the young man, but they felt warmth in their hearts and wrote back to him and have been in regular contact since. Liao wrote the letter to mark Liang's birthday in 1998 when he first called her “mum.”

Liao Liangkai visited Liang Guiru's grave on his most recent trip to Jilin Province. /Weibo Photo‍

He first traveled to the couple's home in Jilin Province in 1999 during his holidays, and then made a promise to himself that he would visit every year even though it is a long trip by train and bus.

“I never forget the first time that my ‘parents' waited for me at the village. They hugged me and called me ‘son' with tears. We talked late into the night,” Liao said. Afterward, Liao continued to write to his late friend's parents to keep tabs on them.

In 2003, Liao met his lover Zhao Jing and got married the next year. The couple sent them a costly blanket as a wedding gift. They even sent handmade baby clothes and another blanket when Liao's wife gave birth as if they were Liao's own parents.

Liao opened a photo printing shop in Chengdu after he left the navy in 2006. He planned to ask the couple to move to Chengdu to live with them if they wanted since Liao's financial situation had improved a lot over 12 years. However, Liang was diagnosed with diabetes and then deteriorated and died last year. Liao felt very sad since he could not get to Jilin to see Liang one last time.

Her husband, Liu Yinzhi, 67, was invited to travel to Chengdu to celebrate the Lunar New Year festival with Liao's parents and their family. Liu told CCTV that Liao has given him great encouragement to continue living.

(Cover Photo: Weibo's Photo)