China food vendor gains fame for resembling Japan animator and offering free meals to needy
Visitors to wonton street shop say owner looks like he ‘stepped out of a fairy tale’ and often pay over the odds to thank him for his generosity
A wonton street shop owner in China has become a local celebrity for looking like the Japanese animator and filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki.
Yin Zhenggen, 76, who has been nicknamed the Hayao Miyazaki of Nanjing because he bears a striking resemblance to the filmmaker.
His shop is also like one that appears in Miyazaki’s fairy tales; it provides free food for people in need.
Yin and his wife, Wang Chunlan, have been running the shop in Nanjing, eastern China’s Jiangsu province, for the past four decades.
Yin was born in Anhui province, central China.
The former Nanjing railway worker and his wife became street vendors after their child was born.
About a decade ago, they moved their shop to Jishan Lane, which means “Karma Lane” in Chinese.