Qianqian (C), 14, has been selling newspapers for over three months to support her paralyzed mother and younger brother in Liaocheng, east China's Shandong Province. [news.qq.com]

Qianqian, a 14-year-old girl from Liaocheng, east China's Shandong Province, has been selling newspapers on busy city streets from early this year to make a living for her shattered family.

Over the past three months, she has walked back and forth around crossroads to find customers, with her wheelchair-bound mother settled nearby and kept in sight.

Apart from making money and caring for her mother, the girl also toils to look after her younger brother so he can go to school.

She dropped out of lessons herself to take on all her family's burdens, after her father died of disease last winter.

Government allowances can barely cover the basic living expenses for the family and the medical costs of the mother. With no way out, the would-be schoolgirl has begun her life as a street vendor.

However, misfortunes often come in pairs. Few passers-by would expect that the diligent newsgirl herself has been haunted by a physical disorder and she has failed to grow any taller over the past four years.

The huge costs for an operation, along with her struggling family, have forced her to press ahead without attending to her own condition.

"What I most want now is that Qianqian can be cured and return to school," said her mother in tears.

Qianqian with her mother and younger brother [news.qq.com]

Qianqian reads a book in her shabby house. "A kind auntie gave it to me. When I finish it, I'll have no more to read," she said.

(Source: news.qq.com/Translated and edited by Women of China)

Editor: Eileen Cheng