Pic shows: The boy. A 10-year-old boy has become an overnight internet sensation after being pictured with icicle hair following a gruelling three-mile trek to school at minus nine Celsius to sit exams. Dubbed "Snowflake Boy" by Chinese media, the child reportedly walked to school on foot while temperatures outside dropped to well below freezing. The snap now going viral on social media was taken by Fu Heng, headmaster of Zhuanshanbao primary school in Xinjie Township in Ludian County in south-western China’s Yunnan Province. Fu said he decided not to reveal the boy’s name but did say that he was one of their third-grade pupils, making him around 10 years old. The photo showing the red-cheeked schoolboy with a full head of white icy hair was taken right after he had stepped into the classroom at the rural school, following a morning walk of approximately 4.5 kilometres (2.8 miles). Fu said: "It was the first day of their final exams. The temperatures dropped to minus nine degrees Celsius in about 30 minutes that morning." The headmaster said the boy lives far away from the school, and that he is known as the "class clown", always finding a way to make his 16 classmates laugh. The boy sadly does not live with his parents, as they are both working in larger cities to earn higher wages. He stays with several siblings and elderly relatives as one of China’s tens of millions of "left-behind children". Fu said the school provides him and others like him with breakfast, but admitted that their classrooms were not yet equipped with heating due to a lack of funding. Netizens on Chinese social media, where the picture has been liked more than 14,000 times and shared thousands of times more, have left encouraging messages for the boy. Many said they hope he can escape poverty by showing such dedication to his education. (ends)