Lin Jipai (L), an ordinary employee at Cangnan County's land and resources bureau handing out a morality scholarship at his Alma Mater University of Science and Technology, Beijing. [Photo: Chinanews.com]

Scholarships are usually handed out to students who get the top grades in class.

But one ordinary civil servant in east China's Zhejiang province has hit the headlines after he set up what he calls a Morality Scholarship, with alleged available funds totalling millions of Yuan.

53 year old Lin Jipai, who works at Cangnan County's land and resources bureau, gave out fifty thousand yuan (8,4000 USD) in awards to some 30 students and teachers at three universities in Beijing a few days ago to reward their sense of moral responsibility.

Some on social media have questioned how such a low level civil servant could have saved so much money, Lin explains that he owns some patents and saved every penny so that he and his wife could carry out good deeds.

Lin says that now more people have come to know about his moral responsibility fund, others have come forward to follow his lead and have made sizable donations.