The 1980s hit song of Dionne Warwick titled "That's What Friends Are For" best describes what 19-year-old social media star Zhang Chi has been to his disabled classmate.

The pair has inspired many Chinese who were touched by the genuine show of friendship, love and perseverance. For carrying on his back every day for the past three years his classmate, 18-year-old Xie Xu, Zhang has been called "the most beautiful student in China," reports the Independent.

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The two are students at Daxu High School in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province. Zhang has the degenerative disease muscular dystrophy which weakens his skeletal muscle.

When someone posted the images on Sina Weibo of the two during their daily journey to school and back home, Chinese netizens expressed the kindest words for the two teens.

But their piggyback days would soon be over since the two BFFs would soon graduate from high school. Xie, if he passes the tests and interview he had on April 23, would study at the Nanjing Polytechnic Institute. Zhang, in turn, will take college entrance exams in several universities.

Since the results of their exams would not be out immediately, the fate of Zhang's education remains a question mark if they get accepted in different schools. But many Chinese still consider Zhang fortunate to have Xie as his free ride to school, allowing him to finish at least his secondary education.

About 243,000 Chinese children of school age who are disabled could not go to school because of discrimination and lack of access to formal assistance program, according to a report on China by the U.S. State Department.

The story of the two friends came just days after Weibo also praised the dedication of a Chinese man in bringing to work his 84-year-old widowed mother suffering from Alzheimer's, using his motorcycle.

Tagstrue friendship, Disabled, high school student, piggyback