The little boy, 4, was left alone by his mother Liu Fan, 28, in the bedroom of their home in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, West China.
The curious boy found the cash - thought to be worth around £3,000 - in a box under the bed and proceeded to rip it to shreds while his parents were none-the-wiser in a room next door.
Liu Fan, 28, said: 'We don't have much time for reading here.
'We didn't really care when he ripped up the old books we had lying around, and it was easy to buy very cheap old books down the market which he happily ripped into small pieces.
'I thought if I left him alone with a book for an hour it would be no problem and we could hear the ripping sounds from the kitchen but didn't think anything of it.'
'My family told me that it was not and I now realise they were right after he found all our money and ripped it up. It was all our savings.'
The family had been saving for a deposit on a new apartment, which they were going to buy in the New Year.
Thankfully, the family found a generous bank willing to would match the value of the notes and exchange them for new ones.
Mrs Liu added that she had now put a stop to her sons destructive habit, saying: 'I realise that perhaps it wasn't very sensible, I'm just very glad that the bank staff agreed to help'
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