JINAN, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- A thief has returned a mobile phone and thousands of yuan he stole from a woman after receiving 21 touching text messages from her, a local newspaper reported.

    Pan Aiying, a Chinese teacher at Wutou Middle School in Qihe county of east China's Shandong province, never thought her text messages would actually result in the return of her belongings.

    Her bag containing her mobile phone, bank cards and 4,900 yuan (628 U.S. dollars), was snatched by a young man riding a motorcycle as she was riding her bicycle home on Friday morning, according to Qilu Evening News.

    Pan first thought of calling the police but she decided to try and persuade the young man to return her bag.

    Pan called her lost phone with her colleague's cell phone but was disconnected.

    She began sending text messages.

    "Hey buddy. I'm Pan Aiying, a teacher from Wutou Middle School. You must be going through a difficult time. If so, I will not blame you", wrote Pan in her first text message which didn't get a response.

    "Keep the 4,900 yuan if you really need it, but please return the other things to me. You are still young. To error is human. Correcting your mistake is more important than anything," Pan continued writing to the thief. She gave up hope after sending 21 text messages without a reply.

    She planned to call the police the next morning.

    On her way out on Sunday morning, Pan happened to kick a package that had been left in her courtyard only to discover it was her stolen bag. Nothing had been taken from it.

    "Dear Pan: I'm sorry. I made a mistake. Please forgive me. You are so tolerant even though I stole from you. I'll correct my waysand be an upright person," said the man in a letter.