A homeless person saved a woman who tried to kill herself by drowning in Foshan, Guangdong province, on Thursday night and received a 50-yuan ($8) reward from the woman's husband.

Liao Guofeng, 29 and from the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, was sleeping under an overpass by the river when he heard people shouting about the woman, who had ridden a motorcycle to the river and jumped in, reported Southern Metropolis Daily.

Liao jumped from a 3.2-meter high river embankment, under which were steps and stones.

He pulled the woman onto the steps and stayed with her until firemen came about 30 minutes later to take her up to the riverbank.

He cut his feet on broken glass and swallowed two mouthfuls of dirty water during the rescue.

Liao and the woman were both taken to a hospital in an ambulance, where Liao had his wounds cleaned.

"There was no antiseptic liquid at the hospital," Liao said. "I wanted to buy a bottle and, with my clothes wet, I was afraid of catching a cold, which I had no money to treat."

"The woman's husband gave me 50 yuan to buy medicine and take a taxi."

He did not buy any medicine but the boss of a vegetarian restaurant, who has been distributing free food to homeless people nearby in the past month, gave him some medicine on Saturday to treat his already swollen feet.

The woman was suffering postnatal depression, her husband said.