Chen Qianshui helps a villager feed livestock in Quanzhou, Fujian province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

For the past three decades, Chen has visited 16 counties and 195 villages in Quanzhou. 

This year, Chen was involved in a car accident and required nine pins in his leg bones. Yet, even with the injury, he continued to visit the villagers and lend them things they needed.

"This is a promise I gave to them and I must meet it," he said, adding that it's not difficult to help people, but it is difficult to help people all the time. Over the years, Chen has helped 1,323 households and more than 5,000 people. 

The Huian county government in Quanzhou has founded a youth volunteer group named for Chen Qianshui, and students and staff from more than 30 schools in Huian have joined the group to assist the disabled and others in need.