Mother in China sells hugs to strangers to raise money for daughter's medical treatment for leukaemia

Chen Dejuan showed passers-by her four-year-old daughter's medical records in a bid to prove she was genuine

A woman was selling hugs for £1 at a subway station in China (Getty Images/Liu Jin)

A mother in China is “selling hugs” for £1 to raise money for medical treatment for her four-year-old daughter who has leukaemia.

Chen Dejuan, 28, was pictured standing outside a subway station in Chongqing, south west China, with her daughter Nana on Friday and Saturday, according to the South China Morning Post.

She was holding a sign which read: “Selling hugs, 10 yuan each”.

It is reported that Dejuan showed her identity card and her daughter’s medical records to those passers-by who stopped in a bid to convince them she was telling the truth.

Photos from local media show Nana sat on the floor beside her mother, wearing a respiratory mask and nearly bald.

Dejuan, who is from Guangdong, and her husband were working in Shandong province in May when they found out the girl had leukaemia after she did not recover from a fall.

They spent 70,000 yuan - which included all their savings and money borrowed from friends and relatives - on medical treatment over the past few months, it is understood.

Dejuan earned more than 600 yuan in just over an hour on her first day of selling hugs to strangers.

Additional donations have been made by people who have read about the family's situation online.