An 85-year-old woman in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province in South China, has donated the money she earned from collecting and selling rubbish despite living on a basic pension, southcn.com reported on Thursday.

Zhang Jinnv, 85, lives alone in an 8-square-meter house in the city's downtown area and works from morning till night collecting rubbish such as plastic boxes, glass bottles, scrap wire and waste paper to sell for money. Last year she learned that one of her neighbors donated money to Guangzhou Education Foundation, which inspired her to donate 300 yuan ($48) to the foundation. On Nov 27, Zhang went to the foundation again and donated 10,000 yuan that she had earned by collecting waste over the course of a year.

"My pension is 2,000 yuan per month and I can get some money by collecting rubbish. Besides food, clothing and daily needs, I have no other need for money, so I want to donate the money to support the poor students," the woman said.

Contact the writer at malie@chinadaily.com.cn