China girl, 10, saves 28 US cents a day for 3 years to buy birthday present for grandfather, melts hearts on mainland social media

“I only have 2,000 yuan, what can I buy for my grandfather?” the girl asks the saleswoman.

As she stares at the jewellery on display inside the cabinet, she is shown red and black gold bracelets.

“Which one do you prefer?” she is asked.

She does not answer immediately but appears to carefully consider the options, eventually selecting the black one. The saleswoman puts the bracelet in a box, as the girl takes her piggy bank out of her bag.

The little girl pulls hard on banknotes and coins to get them out, appearing somewhat reluctant but also excited, before handing them to the saleswoman.

“This is all my savings,” she says.

She hurries home and finds her grandparents sitting on the doorstep.

Bursting with excitement and impatient to tell her grandfather, she pulls the bracelet from the box.

“I bought this with my pocket money,” she tells her grandfather, and shyly passes the bracelet to him. He looks at it and smiles broadly.

The girl looked proud to have executed the surprise she had been working for three years to show her love for her grandfather.

People on mainland social media have been captivated by the story.

“What a lovely granddaughter,” one person said.

“She must love her grandfather very much,” said another.

Stories about children showing love for their family are popular in China.

In August 2023, a three-year-old girl in the northeast of the country helped her tofu-selling grandfather by bowing to customers and saying: “Welcome again next time.”

While in February the same year, a little girl in northern China earned money collecting, recycling and selling scrap material to help her parents buy a new car.