Elderly Relates How Coco Lee Once Bought 100kg of Oranges Just to Help Him

By now, you’ve probably already heard about Hong Kong-born superstar Coco Lee’s death.

After fighting against depression for a few years, she attempted suicide on 2 July 2023.

She passed away on 5 July 2023.

Since then, many have come forward to express their condolences and reminisce about her legacy.

Recently, an elderly man has come forward with a heartfelt story about how Coco touched his heart.

Coco Lee Once Bought 100kg of Oranges to Help the Man

In a recent interview with Chinese media on 6 July, 83-year-old Zhang Wang Han teared up when he heard about Coco’s death.

Coco had done a kind deed for him and his family six years earlier.

The act of kindness occurred in 2016 when he was selling oranges in the streets during a fierce winter.

Since everyone wanted to avoid the cold, it was difficult for him to sell oranges.

However, according to Yahoo! News Taiwan, he had to sell about 18,000kg of oranges to earn enough money to return home for the Lunar New Year.

Coco was apparently filming the fourth season of “I Am a Singer” in Changsha when she chanced upon Zhang’s plight.

She then asked her mother and sister to buy 100kg of oranges on her behalf.

That’s not all she did.

Coco reportedly gave Zhang 2,000 yuan (374 SGD) and bought him four boxes of supplements and cotton-padded clothes.

She later brought the oranges on set and distributed them to the staff, artists and audience.

Helped Elderly Man Sell Oranges

Netizens also found some Weibo posts on Coco’s account dated seven years ago that corroborate this story.

Apparently, she also helped Zhang and his village to sell oranges.

She braved the cold wind to pack oranges at the side of the road and helped him sell 120,000kg of oranges.

There were even volunteers who helped to pack the fruits.

In a week, all of Zhang’s oranges were sold out.

In a Weibo post, Coco wrote, “I want to bring oranges to all staff of ‘I Am a Singer’ to share, with the sincerity (orange) of our family, I wish everyone a happy new year, all wishes come true (orange).”

If you didn’t know, the caption has a couple of puns.

In Mandarin, the words for ‘sincerity’, ‘true’ and ‘orange’ sound similar.

Recounting the incident, Zhang told Chinese media, “I remember her kindness, and I am very grateful to her.”

Coco’s Legacy

It is no doubt that Coco was a busy woman.

After all, she had a 29-year-long career and released over 15 albums.

Yet, she always made time to champion social causes.

Besides being a major contributor to the Make-a-Wish Foundation, she was also associated with the Organisation for World Peace in China.

Furthermore, she was a United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) youth ambassador.

She was also a Youth AIDS ambassador.

Coco attended many international conferences and educated others about AIDS to destigmatise the condition.

Despite struggling with depression, she still tried to encourage others to stay strong, as seen from her Instagram posts and the themes of her songs.

 

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A post shared by CoCo Lee (@cocolee)

 

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A post shared by CoCo Lee (@cocolee)

One Last Encouraging Message

It appeared that Coco recorded one last audio message for her fans before attempting suicide.

The audio clip was posted on Weibo by Coco’s Chinese fan club on the day of her suicide attempt.

She said, “My dears, I am Coco. I’ve felt the love and support that everyone has shown me, and then,  you guys are on my side, bolstering me up, um, I will continue fighting on.

“In this period, I hope you will be healthy and happy too. I miss everyone, and I am working hard. Um, I miss you all. I really miss you guys as well. Love you, love you!”

Switching from Mandarin to English, Coco added, “Thank you so much for the gifts. Beautiful and very thoughtful. Love you guys.”