She just can't stop making pancakes

A 94-year-old woman named Zhang in Zhengzhou, Henan province, works from midnight to 5 am nearly every day cooking vegetable pancakes and selling them to passersby, mostly young white-collar workers.

She's become an expert at kneading together flour, seasoning and eggs in her daily pancake-making routine — that's all she wants to cook — and she does it mostly for fun, not profit. Her goal is to prepare every dish well.

Zhang has lived in Zhengzhou for more than 30 years.

She sets up her sidewalk stall at around 12 am and cooks until dawn. Customers wander by in a steady stream. When the sun comes up, she goes to the market to replenish her supplies - fresh vegetables and flour - for the next round.

"I sacrificed a lot for my family and children when I was young, so as I've grown older I have looked for things to do that are of interest to me," she told Orient Today in a report published on Monday.

"I'm a little less concerned about community relationships and friends now. What I really want to do is focus on each little thing I am working on every day," Zhang said.

Some netizens said Zhang has a hard life and criticized her children for failing to take good care of her. But she said it's not true.

"I have earned my own living over my entire life," she said. "I can't stop now."