A single photograph of a child with snow-white hair and frost-covered eyebrows completely shook the internet in January 2018. An eight-year-old boy stepped into his rural classroom looking exactly like a snowman, but this was not the result of winter outdoor play.
He had just completed a freezing trek across a mountain dirt path to take a primary school mathematics exam. The frozen state of his hair and swollen hands revealed a daily routine that captured global attention and triggered a wave of immediate change.
A Freezing Trek to Zhuanshanbao Primary School
On a January morning in 2018, eight-year-old Wang Fuman left his mud-brick home in Ludian County, Yunnan province, China. The temperature outside had dropped to -9 degrees Celsius (16 degrees Fahrenheit). He needed to reach Zhuanshanbao Primary School to take his final exams.
The journey was 4.5 kilometers (2.8 miles) long, taking him through steep, rugged mountain paths. He wore a thin jacket and did not have a hat or gloves to protect his skin from the winter weather.
The Photograph That Circulated the Globe
After walking for more than an hour, the boy finally stepped into his classroom. The freezing fog had completely coated his hair and eyebrows in solid white frost. His cheeks were a bright, chapped red, and his hands were swollen from the cold. The school’s headmaster snapped a quick photo of the frost-covered student standing in front of his classmates.
The teacher shared the image online, and within hours, the picture of the “Ice Boy” spread rapidly across Chinese social media and international news outlets.
Immediate Changes for the School and Village
The massive internet exposure generated an instant influx of funds and supplies. Within days, local authorities and public donors directed over 2.7 million yuan to the region. Workers immediately installed new heating systems in the Zhuanshanbao Primary School, which previously lacked winter insulation.
The funds provided thick winter clothing, gloves, and warm shoes for all the students at the school, as well as heating equipment for other educational facilities in the surrounding mountainous area.
A New Reality for the Wang Family
Wang Fuman lived with his older sister and grandmother, while his father worked as a migrant laborer in a distant city. Following the viral photograph, the family’s living situation changed rapidly. They moved out of their isolated mud home into a newly constructed, two-story brick house located along a paved road.
The new residence was situated just a short, ten-minute walk from the primary school, permanently ending the boy’s 4.5-kilometer (2.8-mile) daily mountain hikes through winter conditions.