Early on the morning of January 30, Sa Jin prepared breakfast for his mother, who had recently undergone surgery, and then went out.

At 9 a.m., Sa met his online friend Fragrance Tea (net name) and went shopping for children's mats together at Jing Yuan Wholesale Market, which is located outside the West Fifth Ring Road of Beijing, a bit far away from the city center.

Before shopping, Sa had compared prices from several shops online and finally decided to go to the market because it had the cheapest prices in town. In the market, Sa compared 10 kinds of children's mats, bargaining with the merchant again and again, saving 30 yuan (about $4.39) in the final deal.

"If I buy something with my own money, I won't haggle over every penny. But I have to be careful and responsible now, because I'm using money donated by fans of Michael Jackson," Sa explained with a smile.

Sa is the head of the Love Team (LT for short) of the Beijing Michael Jackson Fan Club, which was set up on August 29, 2009, with the aim of encouraging more people to heal the world and give love. The 120 children's mats Sa bought were for 21 orphans who are suffering from cerebral palsy in the love sickrooms at Beijing Er Kang Hospital.

After shopping, Sa hurried on to the LT meeting place, on bus line 438 near Xi Yuan. LT volunteers were scheduled to serve and help in the love sickrooms of Beijing Er Kang Hospital in the afternoon.

By 12 o'clock, the seven volunteers who had signed up for the afternoon activity had all showed up--some having taken part several times before, and some as newcomers.

Since Sa had to return home to cook lunch for his sick mother, he handed over the mats to the leader of this activity, a man called JH003.

JH003, 27, is from Jinzhou, northeast China's Liaoning Province. He came to Beijing in 2007 and works as a security guard at the Beijing Institute of Control Engineering. Although he had participated in several previous LT activities, this was the first time he was going to Beijing Er Kang Hospital.

When the volunteers arrived at the hospital, on behalf of LT, JH003 gave the presents to Zhao Xiaonian, the person in charge of the hospital. Then the volunteers began to play with the sick children, who had just finished their noon nap.

JH003 is a big fan of Michael Jackson, who died last summer at age 50. "Michael was a very kind person who devoted his whole life to healing the world and caring for children," JH003 said emotionally. "He is our role model. After his death, we, his fans, wanted to spread his love and spirit to more people through our efforts."

Since October 7 last year, JH003 has attended LT events at least once a month.

"My monthly salary is 1,100 yuan (about $161), so I can't afford to donate money to these children, but I would like to play with them as much as possible," he said.

As JH003 cleaned the floor in hospital corridors, he often stopped to have fun with the kids who came by. "These sick kids are very poor as they have no family and suffer from a serious disease," he said. "Every time I see their smiles, I feel very happy for them."

JH003 was not the only "Love Uncle" at the hospital that day. Sunshine (net name), who is from Tianjin Municipality, recently moved to Beijing for work. He had previously volunteered at the Tianjin Social Welfare Center.

"I found a message about recruitment for LT through a QQ club (a popular Chinese online messenger service) and decided to come," Sunshine said.

"My major in college was psychology, and child psychology was as an important part. As most research shows, the psychology of an adult is mostly shaped in his or her childhood. These sick orphans don't have family love, so I have a special concern for them and want to give them more love."

Given their busy lives, the young volunteers come to the hospital only on weekends. The weekday volunteers are "Love Grandmas." A 55-year-old widow surnamed Liu is one of them.

"I have a lot of free time now, so I like to come here and do some sewing for the kids," Liu told Beijing Review.

Although Liu is a new volunteer, she has already learned all the kids' names. "The kids here have strong wills, which moved me," she said. "I don't have much money, but I can at least do something for them."

Liu often travels an hour and a half to the hospital by bus. Sometimes she comes with her daughter, who just entered high school.

The hospital has long-term volunteers as well. Jiang Hui, a senior student at China Agriculture University, has worked there for one month as part of an internship.

"At the beginning, I just wanted to do some short-term volunteer work and had no knowledge of cerebral palsy," Jiang said. "But when I came here for the first time, a sick little kid toddled towards me and asked me for a hug, which touched me so much. Then I decided to stay."

Jiang does all kinds of work at the hospital, including receiving donations, categorizing the kids' photos and videos, managing the "Love Sickrooms" website and helping babysit the kids.

"It's not an easy job," she said. "But as long as I can see every little sign of progress in these sick kids, I feel happy."

Around 8 p.m., after having dinner with the kids, the volunteers left the hospital.

Most of them had to travel more than an hour by bus to go home. But it was worth it, they said, for the kids. 

(Hao Rui contributed to this story)