Bed-ridden artist, novelist has big brush with fortune

Though paralyzed and bed-bound for 34 years, 43-year-old Zhang Junli hasn't just been lying around. She keeps busy painting works of art that have won her abundant praise from her fans.

Born in a village in Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi province, Zhang first showed symptoms of the condition that would later take away her mobility when she was 6.

"I had just started primary school," she said. "During the period between the end of autumn and the beginning of winter, I began to feel pain in my wrists and fingers when I wrote."

As her condition worsened, her parents, who worked as rural middle school teachers, took her to Shanxi Provincial Children's Hospital for treatment, where she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.

Her condition did not improve after a month's treatment at the hospital.

Her parents could barely afford the bills and exhausted almost all their savings paying for her hospitalization.

In the end, doctors told them that she would be paralyzed within three years because of the limited medical treatment available at the time.

Zhang went home and suspended her studies.

"At the beginning, I really believed I would return to school someday when I recovered. But one day, when I was 9, I woke up with piercing pains in every joint," she said. "I could not move my body, and the pain has accompanied me ever since. It even keeps me awake at night, sometimes."

Treatments prescribed by village and county doctors did little to alleviate the symptoms, so she was forced to stay at home in bed, bringing her endless pain and loneliness.

To help relieve their daughter's sadness and encourage her, Zhang's parents gave her books and often told her inspirational stories.

Gradually, she found her way in life, and it all started with an idea she had when she was 12.

When she first said that she wanted to learn painting, her mother was surprised but immediately got her daughter all the supplies she needed. Zhang's deformed fingers made it difficult for her to draw, but after numerous failures, she finished her first sketch－a copy of an illustration she'd seen in a book.

"I've loved painting since I was child. It calms my heart, and even my pain seems lessened while I paint," she said.

By the time she was 17, she'd become a skilled artist and had managed to finish a 20-page illustration.

It was accepted for publication by a renowned Chinese fiction periodical, earning her 600 yuan.

"That isn't a large amount these days, but it was almost three months' income for my family in 1996," she said.

"I spent 100 yuan buying books for myself and gave the remaining 500 to my parents.

"It was the first money I had earned, and I decided to try to make a living from art," she added. "I was also encouraged by a number of the periodical's readers, who became pen pals later."

In 2015, one of them－Yu Yimei, a woman from Luzhou, Sichuan province－persuaded Zhang to take up oil painting, because "traditional Chinese ink sketches and watercolor paintings always made the bedclothes dirty".

By watching online videos, reading books and copying the works of Western masters, Zhang was able to teach herself how to paint with oils.

She took two years to finish 200 copies of paintings by Claude Monet and won awards at several different competitions.

In 2017, she opened an online shop to sell her paintings following a suggestion from her younger brother. "I thought it was a good idea, as there was no place to store them at home," she said.

"More importantly, I thought this could provide a reliable source of income for my parents, who still have to work to support me."

Her store－Lily's Easel－opened in February on social networking app WeChat, and she sold her first painting the next day for 360 yuan ($56).

Sometimes, she shares stories about herself on the platform and receives a lot of encouragement.

"When one buyer told me he was captivated by my art and would cherish it, I couldn't help crying," she said.

Over the past four years, Zhang has sold over 300 paintings and made around 150,000 yuan.

Her talents go beyond the easel. Learning to type after getting her first laptop in 2005, she spent seven years writing a 260,000-word novel called The Blazing Girl.

Between 2012 and 2014, she also wrote a 150,000-word autobiography entitled My Existence.

"I wanted to write down my story to tell people like me to never to give up on ourselves," she said.

"I feel lucky to have met so many people who are so caring and warm."