Chinese Woman Attends Mother-in-law Wholeheartedly for 30 Years
Ma Lijun (L) feeds her mother-in-law. [Shanghai Morning Post]

A woman from south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has bravely shouldered her responsibility of caring for all of her partner's family members in Shanghai without any complaint since they married around 30 years ago.

Making an Effort to Help All Family Members

In 1981, the woman, Ma Lijun, tied the knot with her partner Li Guojun. Ma revealed that Li's financial situation was very bad at that time. As Li was an ex-con, it was very difficult for him to find a job, which was compounded by the fact he didn't have any professional skills either, Ma said. Meanwhile, Li's uncle was disabled and he did not have any ability to make a living.

After moving to Li's home, the woman was not depressed, and on the contrary, she tried her best to make it prosperous. Encouraging her partner to go out to find employment, Ma was responsible for the farming work while also taking care of all family members.

The caring woman also made an effort to seek medical assistance to treat Li's uncle's disease, Ma said. However, there were no improvements to his condition. Several years later, Li's uncle died and Ma made great endeavors to arrange for his funeral to be carried out in a decent way.

In 1988, Ma was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Due to her strong spirit, she still leads a normal life now. A couple of years passed and her mother-in-law was well looked after by her and all of her children have grown healthy.

However, something unexpected happened soon after in her family. In 2009, her partner was diagnosed with leukemia and they spent nearly 40,000 yuan (U.S.$ 5,818) covering his treatment fees.

Due to their economically-challenging financial situation, her husband decided to give up the medical treatment and lost any hope for life, Ma revealed.

But Ma did not yield to destiny and spared no effort to raise money to cover her partner's medical fees. Thanks to the assistance of the local village committee and the Civil Affairs Department, Li underwent three years of chemotherapy at regular intervals. Finally, Li's health improved a lot.

Caring for Her Mother-in-law Wholeheartedly

In 2004, Ma's mother-in-law got remarried as her father-in-law died several years ago. However, two years later, Ma's mother-in-law's husband passed away and her husband's children were not willing to fulfill their responsibilities of caring for her.

After learning that her mother-in-law was driven away from the home, Ma immediately went there and asked her to come back home with her.

Moreover, Ma spent many days and nights looking after her mother-in-law who was hospitalized for a sudden cerebral hemorrhage in May 2014. Not having a good rest during that period, Ma confessed that she fainted many times at the hospital.

In addition, the charitable woman led a frugal life in order to send her mother-in-law to the local nursing home for her house was set to be removed.

In 2015, Ma's mother-in-law died from disease. Later, Ma dealt with relevant funeral matters on her own.

In the same year, Ma was honored with the title "Moving figure in the district of Fengxian in Shanghai" and her inspirational story was widely praised by the local people.

Getting Reward

Over the past three decades, Ma has barely been to her hometown of Guangxi and she always wants to go back to visit her family members. By chance, Jia Chunlei, a businessman heard about Ma's story and was greatly moved. Therefore, he gave her a helping hand by purchasing the air tickets for her to return to her hometown.

At the beginning of this year, Ma finally reunited with her family members. Ma recalled that when the airplane landed in Guangxi, her parents, sisters, brothers and even some local villagers were waiting there.

The villagers commented that Ma's dedicated spirit had deeply moved all locals and they must show their warm welcome for her to come back.

At present, Ma and her family members have moved into a newly-built house and have accessed the minimum living allowance thanks to the local government's help. Although Ma usually has to combat disease and care for her weak husband, she claims, "I believe a nice person must receive good rewards. I will continue passing down the filial spirit and virtuous character to the next generation."

(Source: Shanghai Morning Post/Translated and edited by Women of China)

Editor: Jane Wang