The family of flood hero Li Dawei of Hunan Province were given a furnished apartment in central Shenzhen by the city government Sunday. The government also arranged for jobs for Li's parents and schooling for his younger sister.

Li, a 19-year-old soldier stationed in Shaoguan of Guangdong, drowned July 16 while helping to move over 80 people out of flooded villages in Shaoguan.

Li and other soldiers had worked 31 hours carrying stranded people to a lifeboat and transporting them to places of safety. At 7 p.m. Aug. 16, after Li rescued a villager standing on the roof of a house, a log floating down the river collided with the boat. The boat upturned, and all five people on the boat fell into the water. While Li managed to push them onto the log, he himself was carried away by the current.

Li's heroic deeds have moved many people across the nation, especially in Guangdong. The Shenzhen Municipal Government decided in early August to provide a 96-square-meter apartment in Yitiancun housing estate in Futian District to Li's family, and make the family permanent Shenzhen residents.

The government also found Li's father Li Ganxue a job as the driver of a van delivering newspapers of the Shenzhen Press Group and his mother Jiang Hua a job in Shenzhen Water Group. Li's 11-year-old sister Li Zhuo will go to Yitian Primary School. A fund of 100,000 yuan (US$12,500) was established for the education of Li Zhuo, to help her finish college.

The Shenzhen civil affairs bureau sent a vehicle to Li's hometown in Jiahe County of Hunan, 600km from Shenzhen, to pick up Li's parents and younger sister Saturday. The city's Charity Association also appropriated a special fund to furnish the apartment and buy a new set of furniture. Liu Runhua, chief of Shenzhen Civil Affairs Bureau, visited the family Sunday afternoon and promised to help solve any problems they might have.

The family asked Liu to pass on a letter of thanks to city leaders Li Hongzhong and Xu Zongheng. Li's mother Jiang Hua put her son's photo in the center of the sitting room of the new apartment.

"We will work hard like Dawei, and become qualified Shenzhen residents," said Li's father.

The management office of Yitiancun came to Li's apartment to help the family move in, and brought them some food. Many neighbors came to visit the family and said they felt honored to be living next to a hero's family.

Editor: Wing