Thirty citizens were commended by the Shenzhen Foundation for Justice and Courage on Friday for their heroic deeds when facing criminal acts, accidents and disasters, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported Saturday.
Liu Guoquan, 47, is a patrolman. He is one of the 30 recipients of the honor and was awarded 90,000 yuan (US$13,107) by the foundation.
At around 5:50 p.m. Feb. 17, 2018, as Liu was passing Hongtai Street in Pinghu Subdistrict, Longgang District, he found a drunken man chasing after a grocery store owner with a kitchen knife.
Liu immediately rushed forward to try to stop the drunken man and was cut on the right shoulder. The latter was subsequently controlled by Liu and some passers-by. Forensic experts confirmed Liu had suffered a minor injury.
At around 6 p.m. Feb. 3, 2018, the second floor of a residential building in Longtian Subdistrict, Pingshan District, caught fire and black smoke billowed up to the fifth floor.
Wu Tanling, a patrolman in the community, spotted the fire and heard that three children were trapped in the apartment. Despite the risk to his personal safety, Wu rushed into the apartment with a wet towel.
Zhang Leifeng and Liu Hong-fei, who work in the vicinity, also noticed the fire and joined Wu in the rescue. The three children were finally found under the kitchen stove and were all rescued after a search that lasted more than 10 minutes. Wu, Liu and Zhang were each awarded 30,000 yuan by the foundation.
Among the 30 honored citizens, there were also young men who rescued drowning companions, a security guard who subdued robbers, passengers who fought against perpetrators on a bus, safety inspectors who put out a fire and employees who rushed into a fire to save people and remove gas containers.
The foundation gave out a total of 3.27 million yuan in rewards to the 30 brave citizens.
According to the Daily, the foundation received more than 108 million yuan in charitable funds from Jan. 1992 to Dec. 31, 2018, and has commended 67 groups and 3,411 brave people for their heroic deeds. The special fund allocated for the award currently holds 49.1 million yuan.