HANGZHOU, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- When the news of Zhang Chengliang's death broke this week, sanitation workers in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou were in a sorrowful mood.

Zhang was the owner of a noodle restaurant. Over the past five years, he has offered sanitation workers more than 53,000 free bowls of noodles for breakfast during the coldest months of the year.

Zhang died of illness at the age of 57 on Nov. 16, according to an obituary circulated widely on China's social media platform WeChat.

"I couldn't believe it," said Meng Yanjuan, a local sanitation worker. She recalled the last time she ate noodles in Zhang's restaurant. It was a bowl of noodles with shredded meat and a spiced corned egg.

"Zhang did not take money from me. It was freezing outside, but my heart was warmed," Meng said.

As one of the migrant workers in the city, she often gets up early in the morning and stands at the roadside to eat cold steamed stuffed buns or some bread as breakfast.

Zhang's noodle restaurant opened in June 2013 and is just a five-minute walk from the railway station. On its window hangs a bulletin board reading: "When you face difficulties, you can have a free bowl of steaming hot noodles here."

He even promised to donate 1 yuan from each bowl of noodles he sold.

"Sanitation workers make our city more beautiful. They deserve our respect," Zhang said when he was alive. "Sometimes they were too shy to enter my restaurant. We would take the initiative to invite them."

Another sanitation worker Feng Yun came to Hangzhou nine years ago. During the last Spring Festival holiday, she had to work and didn't return to her hometown in neighboring Jiangsu Province. Zhang's noodle restaurant was the only place that stayed open on the street.

"I got free noodles, and the boss was very kind. I heard about his death. What a pity," Feng said, adding the restaurant was a shelter for sanitation workers where they could enjoy the air-conditioning in summers and drink hot water in winters.

Zhang was born in a low-income family. His father passed away when he was a child. With the help of his neighbors, he and his mother could fill their bellies.

"My neighbors also faced difficult times, but they offered their food to me," he once said to media. "Now that I have some money, I also want to help others. Everyone has tough times, especially migrants."

Zhang's charitable endeavor started in 1995. He financially aided 175 poor students, raised funds to build a primary school in mountainous Guizhou Province, and went to Somalia to donate medical equipment, drugs and other necessities for hospitals.

Even though he poured his heart into charity work and operated a noodle restaurant and a rice restaurant, his love towards his family did not weaken.

On the second floor of his rice restaurant are a few photos of Zhang and his mother.

From the Potala Palace to slums in Kenya and the White House in the United States, he spent 10 years taking his mother on trips, which was the unfulfilled dream of his late father.

He set up a mailbox in the rice restaurant, offering customers free paper, envelopes, and stamps, and encouraged them to write letters to their parents when waiting for their food.

"If I did what Zhang did in one day or one month, I think I could handle it. But for five years, I think it's very difficult," said a web user surnamed "Tufeifei."

Zhang said what counts is not how much money you can donate but how many people you can inspire to join the public benefit programs.

His noodle restaurant has attracted hundreds of volunteers who help boil the noodles and serve the customers. Inspired by him, people at home and abroad have donated eggs, noodles and ginger tea to the restaurant.

He published the details of his donations on a regular basis.

"A person may not change the world. But a cup of water or a bowl of noodles can at least warm the heart of strangers," Zhang once said.