Du Yingrong and Lu Suying lived so simply that, from the outside, few people would ever have guessed how much money they had saved — or what they intended to do with it.
The elderly Shanghai couple did not surround themselves with expensive possessions. They did not spend their retirement upgrading their home, buying luxury goods or enjoying the kind of comforts they could have afforded after decades of professional work.
Instead, they watched almost every yuan they spent.
A takeaway lunch costing around 17 yuan — roughly US$2.50 at the exchange rates cited in later reports — could be divided between them and stretched across two meals.
Furniture was kept long after it became worn.
Old belongings were repaired rather than automatically replaced.
Their home remained modest.
To anyone observing their daily routine, Du and Lu might simply have appeared to be an exceptionally frugal retired couple.
But behind that quiet lifestyle was an extraordinary decision.
Rather than spending their accumulated savings on themselves, the couple gave millions of yuan to help children suffering from congenital heart disease.
Their donations ultimately totaled about 5 million yuan — approximately US$735,000 according to reports published in 2026 — and helped support treatment for 455 children.
They never had children of their own.
Yet hundreds of children and their families became part of the legacy they left behind.
A Quiet Life in Shanghai
Du Yingrong and Lu Suying spent their professional lives working in education and medicine.
Du was a teacher, while Lu worked as a doctor. Reports published after their deaths described them as retired employees of the same college in Shanghai.
Their careers were respectable, but their retirement was remarkably understated.
The couple lived in an old home that a charity worker who visited reportedly described as "old and shabby."
This was not necessarily because they had no resources.
They simply placed relatively little importance on spending money on themselves.
After both had died, people involved in managing their affairs saw more clearly just how carefully the couple had lived.
Their possessions told a story of restraint.
They kept worn furniture.
They repaired items rather than throwing them away.
They kept careful records of their expenses.
Du reportedly sometimes bought a lunch costing 17 yuan and divided the food so that it could cover meals for both of them.
It would be easy to look at such habits and see deprivation.
But the fuller story suggests something different.
Du and Lu were making choices about what they considered valuable.
Their lives were modest materially, but they were not empty.
Reports described them as people with intellectual interests who kept books, newspaper clippings and music records.
They simply did not believe that accumulated money needed to be converted into personal luxury.
And in 2018, they found a purpose for a very large portion of what they had saved.
The Poster That Changed Everything
The turning point came in early 2018.
Du encountered a poster outside Shanghai Yoda Cardiothoracic Hospital.
The appeal sought public support for children suffering from congenital heart disease.
Congenital heart disease refers to structural problems with the heart that are present from birth. The term covers a wide range of conditions, from relatively minor defects to serious abnormalities that can require specialist monitoring, medication, catheter-based procedures or surgery.
For some families, the emotional burden of discovering that a child has a serious heart condition can be compounded by the financial challenge of obtaining treatment.
Du saw the appeal and wanted to help.
He discussed it with Lu.
Their response was not a small symbolic donation.
The couple initially donated 500,000 yuan.
According to reporting on their story, that first contribution was intended to support treatment for 10 children.
For many donors, half a million yuan would have been the conclusion of the story.
For Du and Lu, it was only the beginning.
From 500,000 to 5 Million Yuan
Not long afterward, the couple decided to give considerably more.
They offered another 4.5 million yuan.
That brought their contribution to approximately 5 million yuan in total.
The size of the donation surprised even people involved with the charity project.
A worker associated with the program had visited the couple's home and understood how simply they lived.
She reportedly encouraged them to keep some of the money for themselves.
They were elderly.
Their home was modest.