Su Zhengmin, a graduate of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, caught the attention of Chinese netizens with the 6,000-word acknowledgment he wrote as part of his thesis, in which he reflected on his challenging road to success and expressed his gratitude to 65 people who helped him on his journey.

Of those people, Su talked most about Zhang Junlan, a retired journalist from Tianjin Daily who he said enlightened him most and gave him greater hope.

Su was born in a poor village in Xide county, in the Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture, Sichuan province. The village is located in the Liangshan Mountains, which was once one of China's most poverty-stricken areas. There, his family barely had enough to eat and hardly any income.

His father passed away when he was 13, so he and his sister had to drop out of school to help the family. They often borrowed money to survive, so much so that their relatives eventually cut them off.

A month after being cut off, Zhang, who was on a business trip to research poverty alleviation efforts, learned about his situation. She encouraged Su to return to school and offered to give him 2,000 yuan ($298.3) per month until he graduated from university.

"It was 'mother' Zhang that reshaped my life and returned to my hometown many times to give hope to other children," he said.

During his undergraduate studies, Su partnered with more than 180 people to pay the school fees of 65 poor students.

After graduation, he took a gap year to teach young children in Liangshan.

Upon posting his thesis online, netizens became impressed with the help his "mother" gave him.

Zhang, who retired in May at age 60, has been committed to aiding poverty-stricken children for 25 years.

During that period, she has visited Liangshan 33 times and has lost count of how many students she has supported－possibly thousands, she said.

Since 1997, she has not only spent her own money, but has also raised funds from domestic and international charities, government agencies and officials, and Tianjin Daily, as well as readers who were moved by her investigative stories and poverty relief efforts. She has used the money to establish three branches of the School of Hope, a well-known nationwide charitable school project, and to fund scholarships at seven other schools.