Cui was working on a construction site when he received an admission letter from Peking University, one of the top universities in China. [PHOTO BY CHEN YAOBANG/FOR CHINA DAILY]

Story of how a poor boy makes it to a top university strikes chord with country's netizens, Zhang Yu and Li Yingqing report.

Growing up poor can force young people to mature fast and become independent very quickly.

So it was for Cui Qingtao, who graduated from high school this summer.

The 17-year-old, the eldest of three children, lives with his family in Wulipai village, Huize county, in Southwest China's Yunnan province.

On July 22, while working on a construction site near the family home, Cui received an admission letter from Peking University.

In his dusty worker's garb, Cui probably didn't look much like a budding young college student. Indeed, when the mailman arrived, he was too preoccupied with stirring mortar to notice that there was a letter for him.

The contents of that letter left his family astounded, however. They had never dreamed that one day their son would be attending one of the country's top universities.

"My son, you are amazing!" his father Cui Maorong says.