The father of the "Ice Boy" " who became the face of China's fight against poverty after he was pictured covered in icicles following a freezing trek to school " said the family was still struggling to make ends meet.
The boy, Wang Fuman, from the southwestern province of Yunnan, was eight when a photo of him taken by a teacher went viral on social media in January 2018.
It showed the little boy with his hair and eyebrows covered in ice and his cheeks ruddy from the cold after he had walked for more than an hour from his home in thin clothing along treacherous mountain paths.
The plight of the impoverished primary school student touched hearts across China, with many people expressing sympathy online for children like him. Donations of money, warm clothes and heating flooded in.
But his 30-year-old father, Wang Gangkui, said his application for a government assistance scheme had been turned down for the past five years without a satisfactory explanation.
"It's unfair and unjust that my application wasn't approved," Wang Gangkui said on Thursday. "There are allegations in media reports that I have various assets, and they're just not true. And neither am I trying to take advantage of my son's fame," he said.
Families approved for the means-tested scheme, a nationwide program that is administered at the local level, are given benefits ranging from subsidies to vocational training and job opportunities.
Geng Tao, the party secretary of Zhuanshanbao village, told China News Service on Monday that the Wang family did not meet the eligibility criteria for the program, citing their two-storey house.
Some internet users had accused Wang of taking advantage of his son's fame to get access to government aid, claiming the family was being "greedy" as they were already doing better than others in the region because of the donations they received last year.
Chinese media also weighed in, with theBeijing News saying in an editorial on Tuesday that "the authorities should not be influenced by public sentiment towards the Ice Boy and should look at the family's real situation when assessing if they are in need or not."
Wang acknowledged that the media attention and subsequent donations from the public had eased the family's situation, but said they only received a small share.
"There were a lot of donations, but most of them went to the school and were shared among all the pupils and their families here," he said. "Our family only received a small amount of money."
After Fuman's photo went viral, the local Ludian county education authorities said there were many "Ice Boys" in the area, and all donations received had been distributed to local families in need, according to China News Service.
A local charity organization received more than 300,000 yuan ($42,500) in donations from the public, and said the money was shared among students at the Zhuanshanbao primary school, with Fuman receiving just 500 yuan ($72).
Life has improved for Fuman and his family since the viral photo was taken. He used to be a "left-behind child" " a term used to describe youngsters from poor families whose parents work in cities away from home, leaving them in the care of relatives.
His parents have now returned to their hometown and his father works nearby at a construction site, earning 3,000 yuan ($430) a month " a relatively high salary for the area.
But he is the sole breadwinner for the family of five " the couple, their two children and as well as Wang Gangkui's mother.
They moved out of their mud hut into the two-storey home, and with the donated funds, Fuman's primary school was renovated and now has a dormitory equipped with heating. Fuman stays at the school during the week and returns to his home " a 20-minute walk away " on the weekend.
Wang Gangkui said his wife and mother could not apply for jobs designated as "public welfare" positions " such as a street cleaner post offering 500 yuan ($72) a month " because they were not recognized as a family in need under the scheme.
He also dismissed unverified reports that he had two cars, saying he had a second-hand van worth no more than 3,000 yuan ($430). He said reports that his family also had cattle were not true.
Instead, he said he was paying off a loan of tens of thousands of yuan that he took out to build the family's new house.
There were an estimated 16.6 million people living in poverty in rural China at the end of 2018, about 14 million fewer than a year earlier, according to official data.
The ruling Communist Party has set the ambitious target of eliminating extreme poverty in China by the end of 2020, and claims that more than 700 million people have already been lifted out of poverty over the past four decades.
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