Mother, 75, dresses up to help find wife for son, 40,

The 75-year-old mother of a Chinese man has taken to dressing up as Mickey Mouse in order to raise money to help him find a girlfriend. Single man Yang Guan, 40, thought his mother was joking when she said she would use a second hand Disney costume to pose with tourists in the local park in Luoyang, Henan province, central China, so she could raise some extra cash to help him get his life on track.

His mother Yang Zhiqiao said she had been feeling bad for her son because he couldn’t get a girlfriend, and raising money was a way to help him support a potential wife.

Local children have started calling Zhiqiao the “Mickey Mouse Grandma”, and she has taken to charging a 10 yuan fee to have a picture taken with her in popular tourist venues.

However, many people have been paying her a lot more when they find out that she is a frail old lady struggling in a heavy costume.
Locals have even been volunteering in order to help her take frequent breaks, taking turns to wear the second-hand costume.
Zhiqiao said: “I have to make more money to find my son a wife.”

Zhiqiao’s son bought the costume originally, planning to use it to make some money, but now it is his mother that uses it, as his day job prevented him from doing so.
Zhiqiao said: “I really felt sorry for my son because he is now 40 and he still hasn’t managed to get a girlfriend.

“He is a very good man and hard-working but he struggles to get a good job to earn enough money to be able to support a wife, and so he has had difficulty getting a partner. I wanted to help him but at my age it’s hard to find a job where I can earn money.

“Then I saw some pictures of people who had gone to Disneyland and been photographed with some of the characters, and I thought to myself that not everybody would be able to afford to go to Disneyland to be seen with Mickey Mouse.

“So I decided to bring Mickey Mouse to them”.
“I moved here with my husband and my son in 1987, and the future seemed bright, but it didn’t work out after my husband and I divorced in 1996 and we haven’t been able to get on our feet financially ever since.

“My son is quite depressed that he is getting on now and has still not managed to find a partner. That was why I decided to help him.” — DailyMail.