Young woman turns her trash-collecting life into treasure

Li had a dream of being a scriptwriter and she did not give up in spite of the hardships. She took a carbon rod from waste batteries to use as a pen for writing on waste paper. She learned typewriting from a book on computer fundamentals she found in a garbage bin. She also studied high school courses with the textbooks she recycled.

In 2010, Li found a job as a typist and hoped she no longer needed to live by collecting garbage. She bought a secondhand computer and tried to do her writing on it.

Two years later, her mother's cerebral infarction started to deteriorate. Her mother lost the ability to stand up and walk so she could not take care of herself. Once again, Li quit her job and resumed recycling garbage in order to look after her mother at home.

To rehabilitate her mother, Li accompanied her to practice walking at home. She also needed to go on the street to collect garbage during the day. In the evening, she kept writing.

In this way, Li completed a collection of works including poems and essays in 2012. In the following years, she finished a TV script consisting of 30 episodes and a 400,000-word novel inspired by her own experiences.

In 2018, a longer TV script and a movie script with the same title, which translates as "Sunflowers in Full Blossom", have been finished, bringing her another step closer to her dream.

The 62-episode TV script was adapted from her real-life experiences. Li hoped that, one day, she could see her work on the screen, inspiring more people with her story.