Escaping poverty with hard work and a helping hand

Editor's note: In the run-up to the 19th Communist Party of China National Congress, China Daily sent six reporters to live for a month in poor villages to see how China's poverty eradication plan is improving people's lives..

Although suffering from frequent broken bones and fractures while growing up, as a result of brittle bone disease, an iron-willed sister and brother in Hubei province are now able to support themselves as teachers after studying hard and graduating from university.

Cheng Shuangjia and his elder sister Cheng Xiangxi grew up in a village in the mountains of Macheng county of Huanggang, Hubei. Their parents gave them home schooling at first because the sick children had to lie on the bed most of the time.