From a homeless vagrant to a pastor and even a live-in son-in-law in a major city, Brother Xu's story reads like the dramatic turn of events often seen in Chinese web dramas. Yet behind the turnaround lies something far deeper: the transformative light of the gospel.
In 2004, Xu was robbed and left homeless in a southern city in China, and so he was sold to an illegal construction site and forced to work as a hard laborer. He had no identification card, money, or friends, unable to contact his family either. Then Xu sold himself into several illegal factories repeatedly in order to survive. Yet at the end of his rope, he encountered Brother Liu, who had been serving homeless people for many years. Xu was deeply drawn to him after experiencing the gospel's profound transformation in his life. From then on, he committed himself wholeheartedly to serving homeless people who had gone through the same experiences he once had. He has been committed to this for 20 years. In 2024, soon after turning 40, God blessed him with a family and a wife is a nurse from a first-tier city in southern China.
Xu, 41 years old, comes from Xianyang in northwest China. In 2000, he was hardly 16 when he graduated from junior high school. His parents entrusted him to his uncle, who took him to Gaozhou in Guangdong to attend a vocational secondary school. He studied electrical appliance repair. In 2003, before he was even 19, Xu graduated from the school. At first, he was assigned to a partner factory in Dongguan to repair car CD players. He worked from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m. every day, and his salary was 400 yuan a month. After working there for a little over three months, Xu felt that he "couldn't adapt to working overtime too much, and it wasn't the kind of job I wanted to do." So, he left for another factory. The second factory produced eyeglasses, offering Xu only 300 yuan as a monthly salary. He said that he found it difficult to get along with people there because "the team leader expected bribes from me." After working there for three or four months, he left and was ready to return home. At that time, he had a little over 1,000 yuan on him.
Robbed and Homeless, Sold to Illegal Construction Sites
After receiving his wages, Xu went to a railway station as planned to buy a ticket home. But before he could do so, several men robbed him and took everything he had, including his identity card and other items. He was left with no ID, money, or friends, and he wasn't able to contact his family.
He became homeless. "I had no money. I didn't dare to rob or steal. I scrounged for food, but I was ashamed, so I only dared to go to the night market after dark and scrounged leftovers there. During the daytime, I would find somewhere to sleep."
He was desperate to survive and wanted to find a job as soon as possible. But without any identification documents, finding a job was impossible. Eventually, someone approached him and asked if he was looking for a job. The recruiter took him away in a minivan to a dark room. There were already several people inside, and someone was guarding the door outside.
He was then sold to a construction site near Dongguan. The site was surrounded by walls. Those who had been sold there were not paid any wages, and thugs were employed as overseers to prevent them from escaping. Looking back, Brother Xu says he does not know how he managed to survive back then. "We got up very early. We ate rice noodles, and we went to bed very late. During the day, I carried bags of cement. I was very short, and each bag weighed 50 kilograms. By the time I finished, my entire body was covered in cement dust. Only my eyes were left uncovered."
As a newcomer, he often teamed with a tall man who had worked there for two years. Once, after lunch, when everyone was relatively relaxed, the two of them tried to escape but were caught. He had no choice but to continue working as a laborer there. He kept his head down and behaved himself, but he kept thinking, 'I can't spend the rest of my life trapped here.' So, he continued to watch and wait for another opportunity to escape.
One rainy night, he excused himself to use the toilet and successfully climbed over the wall and escaped. "I began wandering from town to town across Dongguan. I collected bottles, sold them, and ate leftovers that I collected."
To Survive, He Sold Himself into Illegal Factories Repeatedly
Because it kept raining and it was difficult to collect bottles, he eventually decided to sell himself to an illegal factory again.
"I wanted to gain some weight and become stronger while working at the construction site. Once I was strong enough, I would escape again." After escaping five or six times, he became the most experienced escapee on the construction sites.
And so, for several months in Dongguan, Brother Xu lived a life cycle of wandering, selling himself, and escaping. Later, he met another homeless man who invited him to go to a place he described as "a paradise for homeless people, where you don't have to worry about food or a place to sleep." That place was Dongmen Old Street in Shenzhen. "When we got to Dongmen, I found that it really was like a paradise for homeless people. Back then, it was easy to collect leftovers around Dongmen Pedestrian Street. When I was homeless in Dongguan, I often couldn't get enough to eat." So they "settled down" in Dongmen.
Life on the streets was so difficult that he and the other homeless man even considered illegally crossing the border into Hong Kong. They thought that if they were caught and sent to prison, they could at least have food and shelter.
A "Fool" Among the Homeless: First Encounter with the Gospel
While thinking about how to sneak across the border illegally and killing time, Brother Xu heard of "a fool who often brought us daily necessities like shampoo and washing powder."
At the time, Pastor Liu, who was in the homeless ministry, frequently visited the area where Xu and the others stayed. Pastor Liu brought them basic necessities. One day, while the men were playing cards, Pastor Liu went out and bought them several boxed meals. "From then on, he came to visit us regularly. After about a month, he said, 'I'll take you guys to a church.'" Brother Xu followed Pastor Liu onto a bus and visited the church. "We had a gathering there, and they provided a meal. After the meeting, they even gave us the transportation fees for the return trip."
Another month later, Pastor Liu told him that a Christian woman had learned about their situation and wanted to rent a house for the homeless brothers to live in.
In addition to caring for this particular group, Pastor Liu was often away on church service. During his absence, these homeless brothers would pray and read the Bible at home. This way of life continued until 2006, when Pastor Liu got married. From then on, Brother Xu became the one who led and cared for his fellow brothers.
20 Years Living with the Homeless
Living with homeless men has been filled with challenges. When they took in those who were mentally unstable or believed to be possessed by demons, they would often make a noise at night, making everyone unable to sleep. Brother Xu's identity card was stolen multiple times, with others using his ID to make unauthorized purchases through mobile payment platforms under his name. Yet, among all these difficulties, the hardest thing was that after investing so much in helping people, he was still sometimes slandered and spoken against by the very people he had tried to help.
Still, he welcomed these homeless men into his home because he believed he was responding to God's will. And he has been calling them with great affection: "my brothers."
"From July 15, 2004, we rented that single room and began living together. It has been 20 years now," Xu recalled.
After coming to faith in Jesus, Pastor Liu encouraged everyone that even if they were poor materially, they should live with a noble spirit. People in the homeless ministry came and went. They helped many people return to their hometowns, and they also helped many others return to normal work and life. For those who found it difficult to reintegrate into society, find employment, and live a normal life, they continued to accompany and support them.
Collecting recyclables to sell them for money was a regular part of life. During very difficult times, they even went to the vegetable market to gather discarded vegetable leaves. Yet there was one thing everyone was strictly forbidden to do: anything illegal, such as stealing, robbery, cheating, or defrauding others.
"At first, I didn't understand why I had ended up on this path. For many years, I resented the man who robbed me," Brother Xu recalled as he reflected on his life and ministry. "I followed Pastor Liu onto this path of believing in Jesus and serving the Lord. For 20 years, we have simply accompanied the homeless people, welcoming them and providing them with meals, showers, and shelter. Over the years, we have served tens of thousands of people."
"Had I not been robbed, I would never have walked on this path," Brother Xu said. He believes that it was the Lord who led him onto this road.
Two years ago, Brother Xu met his wife—a Christian nurse who longed to find a husband with a genuine heart for ministry. To everyone's surprise, the two of them eventually built a beautiful family together.
His story brings to mind a poem by the Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke, "Solemn Hour":
Whoever now weeps somewhere in the world,
weeps without reason in the world,
weeps over me.
Whoever now laughs somewhere in the night,
laughs without reason in the night,
laughs at me.
Whoever now wanders somewhere in the world,
wanders without reason out in the world,
wanders toward me.
Whoever now dies somewhere in the world,
dies without reason in the world,
looks at me.
(To protect Brother Xu, his full name is not disclosed in the article.)
- Translated by Charlie Li
