A Chinese woman who repaid all her boyfriend’s 600,000-yuan (US$82,000) debt and looked after his family for nine years after he died following a car accident, has moved many people online.

Wang Ting, 34, from central China’s Hunan province, lost her boyfriend, Zeng Zhi, whom she had been together with for years, in 2016.

She discovered that after Zeng, a businessman, passed away, he still owed salaries to his staff, payments for purchases, and loans he received from friends.

Wang said despite the folk belief that a person’s debt goes away when they die, and that people around her tried to talk her out of it, she insisted on repaying Zeng’s debts, because his parents could not afford it, only having a 50,000-yuan (US$7,000) annual income.

“If I do not repay the debt, how would those people support their children and elderly?” she said.

“I need to bring his life story to a perfect close,” Wang said, adding she did not want his legacy to be one of dishonesty.

She spent all her 200,000-yuan savings (US$27,000) and moved to other provinces to earn money. She also borrowed 60,000 yuan from her friend to conclude the debt repayment.

Wang had also been taking care of Zeng’s parents and his uncle.

Zeng’s mother had a mental breakdown after her son died. Wang took her on trips every year to open up her mind.

She looked after Zeng’s father every time he was hospitalised for his heart disease.

She also went to his uncle’s home a few times every year because his only son suffered from a mental illness and could not look after him.

In addition, Wang bought pension cover for Zeng’s mother.

In 2020, she married another man and invited Zeng’s parents to the wedding, telling them: “You will always be my parents and the most important people in my life. I will have six parents from now on.”

Wang’s great love has moved many people online.

“She is such a loyal and devoted person. Her ex-boyfriend and his family must have treated her well before he died,” said one online observer.

“Her husband is lucky to have married her,” another said.

Others disagreed calling her “too lovesick”, to which the local women’s federation responded that Wang had simply shown great love.

It added that she just donated 10,000 yuan (US$1,400) to a student last month.

Wang now owns two companies, one a food firm and the other a tourism business. Some said her success was a reward for her kindness. (First published in South China Morning Post on 12 April 2025)