8-year-old boy finds fame as Jack Ma’s doppelganger

 

Fan Xiaoqin couldn’t really understand why all of a sudden so many people were descending on his rural, shabby home, and nor did he really care.
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All he knew was that these people liked to call him Ma Yun – someone he had never heard of. He wasn’t angry, nor did he respond.

Fan is the 8-year-old boy from Yongfeng county, southeast China’s Jiangxi Province, who has shot to fame for his striking resemblance to Alibaba founder and multi-billionaire Ma Yun, also known as Jack Ma, after a video clip of him went viral online this week.

Fan’s face has all of the same unique features as Ma, the self-made CEO who is worth some 27 billion US dollars – prominent cheekbones, coiled locks, and the occasional flash of a mischievous grin. Even Ma himself acknowledged his resemblance to the boy. “The first time I saw this boy, I thought my family had uploaded my childhood picture,” Ma posted on Weibo.

 

But except for that incredible connection, the differences between the separate lives led by Fan and billionaire Ma could not be starker.
Living in the countryside, life is a struggle. Fan’s 83-year-old grandma has dementia, his 59-year-old father is an amputee, while his mother suffers from the effects of polio. His 13-year-old brother is as silent and introverted as he is.
Local villagers all say that Fan could be mentally challenged, a situation that his father Fan Jiafa is reluctant to admit, although he knows the boy has suffered from bullying because of his introversion. “If he could go to a better school in town, maybe the boy might be more ‘normal,’” the father said. Sadly though, he just can’t afford what would be best for the boy.

 

The five-member family lives on a yearly government allowance of 13,400 yuan (1960 US dollars). They also tend some 1.3 square kilometers of paddy fields, and own one cow and several chickens, a living situation that can’t provide the boys a better education.

 

Fan may not have understood why the strangers come to see him, but he did notice some slight changes to his family’s lifestyle. As lots of people came and went, they gave the boy and his family new clothes and shoes, meat, milk and fruit. He didn’t know it was all because of his resemblance to a famous face.

His famous doppelganger Jack Ma has reportedly told his staff that he is willing to sponsor the boy through his education, until he graduates from college.

Fan’s family is more than happy to hear this news. In Fan Jiafa’s eyes, Jack Ma is a “rich” and “kind” person. “I do appreciate it if someone comes up to help Xiaoqin, but if they don’t, it doesn’t matter either, people have to live on their own anyway,” he said.

A visitor joked with Fan Xiaoqin, “did you set up Alibaba? Is Ma Yun your father?” Fan didn’t say anything. He just quietly kept eating his banana.