An indomitable family hopes to succeed with hard work

Marriage, becoming a mother and moving to a new house should have been three very happy moments in a woman's life. But not for Chen Xia, 51, a farmer in Chendianqi village of Wuchang, a rich rice growing area in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province.

However, she has only become stronger after each setback.

Soon after she married a local farmer Xu Lianfeng in 1990, her husband began working as a porter in Daqing, the largest oilfield in China, in an effort to lift the family out of poverty. But soon Xu suffered a waist injury, which developed into serious lumbar disc herniation.

At the end of 1990, the couple had their first baby that brought new "happiness in their life" despite Xu's injury. However, even that happiness was short-lived, for after four short months, the girl was diagnosed with congenital cerebral palsy, and doctors said that she had to be taken care of all her life, because there is no effective remedy for her condition.

After struggling to accept the hard truth, Chen and Xu decided to do everything they could to get their daughter "cured". But after piling up a huge debt to pay for her treatment, the young couple realized what the doctors had initially said was pathetically true.

Chen said: "We brought a little life into the world. So we had to take good care of her." As her husband could not do heavy manual work in the city anymore and Chen had to look after their daughter, they moved back to the village to live with Chen's parents.

Now the onus of taking care of the family rested mainly with Chen.

They rented a plot of land from other villagers to grow rice. Chen had to come back from farm work every two hours to help change and wash the diapers of her daughter, and help her pass urine or to defecate.

Life for the family continued like this until 1999 when Chen's parents encouraged her to have a second child. Initially, the couple were reluctant to have another child given the condition of their daughter. However, they finally decided to go the family way again after consulting doctors.

When their son, whom they named Xu Jiachen, was born one year later, the couple were extremely nervous, fearing that Jiachen would become like his sister.

But the boy turned out to be a healthy child. Chen said: "Jiachen's birth eased our depression that had tormented us for 10 years." Having a son seemed to rekindle the couple's hopes. Apart from growing rice, they started raising pigs to increase their income.

They borrowed money from their neighbors to buy two piglets in 2004. Although she had studied only up to junior middle school, Chen learned the necessary techniques of raising pigs.

Jiachen was a naughty but clever child. And Chen was strict with his studies, hoping that he would go to college and change the fate of the family. Life gradually became better for the family. They even built a new house in 2011.

But soon, Chen's mother-in-law suffered a cerebral thrombosis due to gas poisoning. And although her life was saved after more than 50 days of hospitalization, she was paralyzed, and Chen's father-in-law decided to shift to the couple's house with his bedridden wife.

Four years later, Chen's father suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. Chen took care of him, her mother-in-law and her daughter despite working in the field and raising pigs. Nine months later, her father passed away, which dealt another devastating blow to Chen.

This is when Xu started taking care of the farmland and pigs. He said: "My wife has led a really hard life, and were it not for her, the family would not have been able to make it."

Jiachen fell five marks short of qualifying for admission to a senior middle school. So he enrolled in a vocational middle school, but studied hard for three years. In 2018, he got admitted to Qiqihar University to major in computer technology application. That was the first time he left home to go to the university about 150 kilometers away in the same province.

Due to employment and economic difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Jiachen did not find a job after graduation in June 2022, and returned home to help his parents with farm work. Jiachen said: "I will continue to look for a job, as my parents have pinned great hopes on me."

Zhang Feng, a neighbor, encourages Jiachen to try his best to ease the burden of the family. "His mother leads a really hard life," Zhang said.

Chen Wei, Chen's younger sister, also encourages Jaichen to use what he has learned in college to help improve the life of his family, saying: "I have never seen your mother shed a single drop of tear."

And true to her spirit, Chen said: "My tears have long dried up. Crying doesn't help resolve any problems, does it?"

Thanks to the local government's assistance and the family's indomitable spirit, the livelihoods of the family have markedly improved. Jiachen is optimistic about the future of his family, saying the difficulties they have overcome have only made them stronger and brought the family closer. "Our country is developing fast, and there is always hope that our struggle will bear fruit."