A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. -- Philosopher Lao Zi, 5th Century BC.

Mother Guo Qingmei stands behind Wang Yan on the wheel chair while carrying Wang Rui on the back. The Chinese characters on the wall read Zi Qiang Bu Xi, which means "never stop trying."  [China Daily]

Guo Qingmei brought her two daughters Wang Yan, in a wheelchair, and Wang Rui on her back, to Beijing for medical treatment, as they both have spinal problems. The journey took five years.

The family now lives in a small room on the corner of the sports field of Wanquanhe Middle School in Haidian District, which has been their only "home" over the past half-a-decade.

As Wang Rui needs to go to school, Guo has to get up at about 5am to massage her back, dress her, and get her off to school by 7am. When she returns, Guo helps Wang Yan to get up and wheels her to the Xiyuan market at 8am when the market opens.

"Mum picks the vegetable leaves in the market and makes some vegetable soup or noodles for lunch. At around 11:50am, she sends it to my classroom," Wang Rui said. The other students also eat their lunch at the school, which costs 5.5 yuan, while the living expenses for the whole family is no more than 3.5 yuan a day.

In the evening, Guo also wheels Wang Yan to Haidian Bridge where she sells some small accessories, from which she earns about five yuan a day.

"Mum's biggest wish is to see us stand up and Wang Rui can complete her schooling," Wang Yan said. "She has never given up hope."

Despite all the hardships, Guo said she was happy for Wang Rui's passion of study. "I'm glad that she has the dream," Guo told a local newspaper.

This is their second time in Beijing for medical treatment. The first time was in 1999, when Guo borrowed 10,000 yuan (US$1,250) from the bank and relatives to take her daughters to the 301 Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. However, the doctor told them the operation on Wang Yan alone will cost at least 80,000 yuan (US$9,864) after the examinations.

"The doctor told us my condition is more serious than six years ago and the operations for me and my sister need about 300,000 yuan (US$36,991)," Wang Yan said.

"Mum told us she wanted to find some work outside to make some money for my operation as well as for the schooling for my younger sister."

The family used to live in a mountain village in Chonghua county, Shannxi, and it took them three days of walking on rugged mountain path to get to town.

"Mum only took extra clothes for each of us and the only food we took with us was two steamed buns because she could not carry that much while having me on her back and my sister in the wheelchair," said Wang Rui, the younger daughter.

"Most people thought it was crazy to walk to Beijing, but mum could walk 80 kilometres a day."

According to the girl, they have passed 12 cities during the last five years, and Wang Yan has gone through five wheelchairs.

When they finally arrived Beijing last August, the first place they visited was the 301 Hospital, where they still could not get medical treatment.

The only other place the mother heard about that might help was Renmin University, so they went there.

"We were pretending to be visitors and followed people who were visiting the school, but we didn't know what we were looking for," Wang Yan said. "When I was little I dreamed of going to university. When I was so close to it, I realized it was so far," she added.

Later they went to Peking University and then Tsinghua University. Still visiting the campuses, they didn't know where to go or what to do. They were so tired they slept on a chair in the campus grounds.

As the new semester drew in, they had to find a school for Wang Rui, who was supposed to be in the final year of her junior middle school. Wang Rui said her mum took her on her back to many schools in the Xicheng, Chaoyang, Chongwen, and Haidian districts. Many times, they could not even enter the school gate because they didn't know whom they should meet and were stopped by the guards. Most of the time the schools said the classrooms were already full, and refused them, or, they were just told to go to another school.

"During that period, mum knelt down to teachers and principals from school to school, and we were trying school after school," recalled the little girl. "But we had to pretend to be smiling when we moved on to a new school in case the teacher got to know we had already been refused by other schools."

To avoid being left too far behind, Wang Rui asked her mum to take her to a bookstore where she could read some books. They went to the Haidian Book City at the end of September, where the assistants were so surprised to see her reading a book on her mother's back. The shop staff were so moved after learning about their story, that one of them offered to help them find a school.

With this woman's help, Wang Rui entered Wanquanhe Middle School and later lived in a small room on campus. The 10-square-metre room is only big enough for a bed, and the only furniture is a broken desk, on which Wang Rui can finish her homework.

"While we were on the journey here, I had to finish my homework on my sister's legs under streetlight, sometimes there was so much homework that I could not finish it by 11 o'clock at night," Wang Rui said, explaining that this is how she became nearsighted.

"As long as mum could find a school for me, she would let me finish the school, then we moved on during the summer or winter holidays," Wang Rui said. "I don't know how many schools I have attended, sometimes I could only stay there for two months, and then we had to move on."

From city to city, Wang Rui had to get used to different teachers, different textbooks, different ways of teaching, and even different dialects.

But it seems that no matter where she was, she gave it her best. Her first exam at the Wanquanhe Middle School was maths, and she scored 97, the highest mark in the school.

Recently, Wang Rui was also given the "Three-good Student" award by both the school and the Haidian District for her excellent performance at the school.

"I know how precious the opportunity for me to be in the classroom is," she said. "My classroom in the other school before was on the fifth floor. There was no elevator, and each time when mum carried me on her back to the classroom I could feel her heart beating, she gave us too much."

Last week, she finished the exams for high school, and Wang Rui felt she did quite well.

Beijing students can apply to up to eight high schools even before the exams. Wang Rui is once again faced with the problem of finding high school.

"We did that last year, so I am not that afraid," the brave girl said.

If you have a way of helping, please call 8269-7469 or visit them at Wanquanhe Middle School (6255-9774).