A young man from Syria living in Nanjing City of Jiangsu Province has donated 1,000 yuan and penned a letter to express support for China’s fight against the novel coronavirus outbreak.  

Zein Ali, a 29-year-old Syrian PhD candidate at School of International Education, Nanjing University of the Arts, has been in China for nine years. Under his influence, his triplet brother and sister have also chosen to study in Nanjing, and the three were later joined by their parents in the city.  

Zein Ali (2nd from left) and his family

Ali visited the city’s Yuejianglaou police station on the afternoon of February 10 to make the donation, saying in the letter that the money isn’t really much but his family wants to help the doctors, nurses, police and all those fighting on front line of epidemic control in Wuhan, the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak. 

He also wrote that he believes China will certainly overcome difficulties and win the battle. 

Amid the outbreak of the virus, the family chose to stay in Nanjing during the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, paying close attention to the news every day and strictly following governmental suggestions to minimize risk of infection.  

He said the battle against COVID-19 outbreak is about all the people in the world, an endeavor not to be restricted by border or money.   

Painting by Walid Ali

His father Walid Ali, an oil painting artist with his works exhibited in countries including Greece, France, Russia and Czech Republic, was also the first Syrian artist to have a solo exhibition in Nanjing. The artist has recently created several paintings to convey best wishes for China in battle against the epidemic.