Life and death in the house of hope
A ramshackle building in the backstreets of the capital of Anhui province is a home for some of China's sickest children. Zhao Xu reports from Hefei.
Standing solitarily in the corner of an open alleyway corridor, amid empty cupboards and discarded mineral water bottles, is a children's tricycle. The electric-blue bike added a heart-lifting jolt of color to a place otherwise shrouded in drabness. While the wheels had clearly been collecting dust for a long time, a small wooden plank where the seat once was, fastened by plastic string indicated that bike was still in active use.
"Every child I know that has lived on this floor has ridden on this bike at one time or another," Li Defang said. "Chemotherapy gave them feeble legs, so they had no choice but to ride around on this little dirty bike that always seems to be about to crumble within the next minute."
