But what has thrust Zhang Yu into the spotlight is his heroic acts, which led to him winning the China Youth May Fourth Medal in 2022.

In December 2021, Zhang Yu encountered a fire in a residential building while on his way to collect some deliveries. He saw thick smoke pouring out from a balcony as a crowd gathered outside. The deliveryman squeezed into the crowd and found two adults and a crying child standing helplessly on a third-floor balcony, waiting desperately for rescue.

Many neighbors watched anxiously on the first floor, but had no way of helping them quickly. Upon realizing the severity of the situation, Zhang Yu called on his military experience to climb up to the second floor, standing on a window ledge as he extended his hand to the balcony on the third floor. From there, he was able to save the family, bringing each member of the family down one by one.

When onlookers cheered for him, Zhang Yu said nothing. He simply rode off on his motorbike, continuing on with his day's work. Although he suffered from a sprained left foot and a swollen thumb due to the climb, the deliveryman simply applied medicine when he got home at 10 pm.

It was only after the video of his good deed went viral on Douyin that people knew it was Zhang Yu. Many people have since called him a hero; but talking about the event in a documentary series, Keeping Up With the New Youth, coproduced by China Daily and the publicity department of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, Zhang Yu simply says: "I'm not a hero … I just did what a kind man would do."