NANCHANG－The 17-year-old son of a migrant worker has thanked a traffic policeman for helping him gain entry to one of China's top universities after the teenager was injured in a car accident.

Wang Zhixiong graduated from Bailuzhou High School in Ji'an, Jiangxi province, this summer. He secured excellent marks in this year's gaokao national college entrance examination and has been admitted to Tsinghua University in Beijing.

Three years ago, Wang was injured in a road accident ahead of his senior high school entrance examination, known as the zhongkao. The driver involved ran off, and local police failed to locate him.

Medical expenses could have placed severe financial burdens on Wang's poor family and caused the boy further mental stress.

"At the time, I felt that the accident had disrupted my study plans and I lost confidence in doing the senior high school entrance examination," Wang said.

After learning about the teenager's situation, traffic policeman Zhang Bingbing helped Wang apply for relief funds for victims of road accidents that covered most of the teenager's medical costs.

"Life is not always smooth, however, setbacks and difficulties are all transient," Zhang said.

He told Wang several times that to emerge stronger from the setback he needed to discover and acknowledge the good things around him.

Wang regained his zest for life, recovered from his injuries and successfully enrolled in a local senior high school.

Although Wang didn't speak to the policeman for three years, Zhang's words kept his spirits high.

"For me, studying hard is the most effective way to change my life," Wang said. "Whenever I met with difficulties in study and life during the past three years, Zhang's encouraging remarks would come to mind."

Wang's mother said the first person she called to thank after hearing of her son's successful application was Zhang.

"Without the help of traffic policeman Zhang three years ago, my son would not have been able to realize his dream of getting into a coveted university," she said.

Wang's father is a migrant worker employed by a textile company in Zhejiang province.

He earns less than 4,000 yuan ($570) per month.

A total of 10.71 million students took the national college entrance examination last month, and like Wang, many students are from humble families in rural areas.

After receiving the university admission notice, Wang and his mother visited the police station to thank Zhang.

"I never imagined that an ordinary act of mine would encourage a mother and son for three years," Zhang said.

Xinhua