By Li Qian (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-08-10 18:08

Eunice Moe Brock at home in Shandong.

A woman from the United States in her 90s is devoting her love and energy to the development of a small Chinese village where she used to live as a small child.

In the early 20th century Eunice Moe Brock's parents came to the eastern Chinese province of Shandong where they gave birth to her. When she grew up during the Kuomintang Republic, Brock saw the poverty, plague and flames of war. And so when she left China at the age of 13, she was determined to come back to help the poor people of her birthplace, she told the People's Daily.

Following her husband's death in 1998, the old woman sold her house, her car, a 40-acre forest and other belongings and moved to China. She settled down at Liumiao Village in Liaocheng of Shandong, to follow through on her promise to help the local villagers.

In the past few years Brock has built a computer room for the primary school with her own money, and donated desk, chairs and books. She also paid the bills for people to have cataract surgery and has been trying to improve the medical care facilities in a number of villages. So far, she has donated more than 300,000 yuan.

Her work has been recognized not only by the people of Shandong, but also the nation. Brock was named China's Philanthropy Ambassador in 2003, and at the beginning of this year was awarded the title as one of the "10 People Who Touched Shandong 2006" for her affection and contributions towards the Chinese.

The woman regularly writes to her relatives in the US, talking about her life and the changes taking place in the small village and in the country.

"Several streets have been widened in Liumiao, and the main road is flanked with trees and shrubs," she wrote in the first letter.

In 2002 the local government invested 4 billion yuan to improve the power supply and began Internet service to villages, so Brock started to write e-mails.

"I am happy to have constant electricity, and I think the other villagers are happy, too," she said. "The Chinese government has made great efforts to improve basic utilities in rural areas to benefit poor people."

Eunice Moe Brock rides a tricycle in her home village.

One of her neighbors, Aunt Zhang told Brock she received government-issued medical security compensation for the first time in a cooperative medication scheme for people living in rural areas. So Brock told her family: "The government will pay half of the villagers' medication if they join the project by paying a fee of only 10 yuan a year."

Brock said she was happy living in China, as she felt the various changes in the country were due to its increasing economic development.

She plants vegetables in the field herself, and puts up spring couplets on the door during the lunar new year.

In Liumiao, every child plays with toys in Brock's home, and at Christmas she always brings a batch of candies and takes them by a donkey cart to schools for students.

"I hope to have a 'green card' so that I can live in China forever. I'm an American, but I have a Chinese heart," she said, promising to donate her organs to Chinese patients after her death.