Six female villagers in Yimeng, east China's Shandong province, have made outstanding achievements in helping locals shake off poverty by leading their peers to embark on the path to prosperity over the past few years. [Cnwomen.cn] Six female villagers in Yimeng, east China's Shandong province, have made outstanding achievements in helping locals shake off poverty by leading their peers to embark on the path to prosperity over the past few years.Niu Qinghua lives in Yedian Town in Mengyin County. Her husband became a migrant work, leaving her to run the household, look after the kids and take care of the elderly all by herself.Besides, she also had to look after 1.3 hectares of orchards, over 100 pigs, 40 sheep, and more than 200 chickens. The arduous life and lack of sleep compelled Niu to change her situation.At the end of 2015, the Party secretary of Beiyanzi Village invited an e-commerce instructor to lecture in the area. Niu signed up on a course and mastered the skill in 10 days.She then opened an online store to sell apples at a price of over 11 yuan per kilogram, whilst her purchase price was less than five yuan per kilogram.Surprisingly, nearly 5,000 kilograms of the pricey apples, which were much more expensive than those offered by local farmers, were sold out within a month.Niu also sold peaches, peanuts and other local products online. The sales on her online stores have now exceeded over 6 million yuan.The peak peach season saw the monthly sales exceed 100,000 million kilograms, with average daily sales volume of over 3,000 kilograms; and the monthly sales of apple reaching 60,000 kilograms; and, the monthly sales volume of peanuts being close to 25,000 kilograms.Wang Yang is a college-graduate village official in Zhucun Village of Linshu County. Since she took office, she has conducted many household visits, especially among the 38 poverty-stricken families in the village.Wang took the initiative to personally help 13 people in seven households.Utilizing the traditional handicrafts of wickerwork and agricultural products, Wang created an agricultural products brand to participate in the first New Year Festival Purchase and Agricultural Products Fair in the city of Linyi, and promoted sales through online stores on Taobao, WeChat, and other channels.Meanwhile, Wang developed her e-commerce business in the village based on the professional knowledge she had learned during her college years.Through active coordination and cooperation with YTO Express, she jointly established a fully equipped e-commerce training classroom and a village service station for express delivery and e-commerce. The 38 impoverished households in the village have all achieved poverty alleviation.Yu Xueyan of Mojialongtou Village in Junan County used to suffer from poverty. In 2003, a chance trip helped Yu discover prosperous business opportunities in weaving watermelon-holding mesh bags.According to Yu, the production of watermelon mesh bags relies on labor. Despite its low profit, it is simple and easy to set up. Since there was plenty of redundant idle labor in the village, Yu and her husband decided to start their own business with the money they had saved over the years.Yu also registered Fengle Plastic Products Co. on August 31, 2009, and developed it into a company integrating research and development, production and sales of watermelon mesh bags.They also give preference to people with disabilities and those who came from necessitous households in employment so as to help these difficult groups shake off poverty.As of now, Yu's company has led over 600 people in 11 neighboring villages to get rid of poverty. More than 2,000 people from other towns and counties in east China's Jiangsu province and in the city of Rizhao in Shandong province were also involved in the processing of the project.Liu Jiaqin of Wutai Village, in Pingyi County, has similar experience with Yu. Liu is a woman with third-grade disability, and was unable to walk. And yet, in order to repay debts owed in her medical treatment over the years, Liu decided to start a business.In spite of all the physical difficulties, Liu did her upmost to learn relevant techniques, gathered five people in the village, and borrowed from a rural credit cooperative. With her great efforts, in 2016, a garment processing factory was thus established. As she attaches great importance to the quality of products, the factory has retained many regular customers, and gradually expanded its scale.Liu has hired many employees with various physical disabilities. She also set up two charitable organizations to help over 30 physically-impaired people find jobs. In addition, she opened another branch in Pingyi County and set up four poverty alleviation workshops in the surrounding villages to settle work problems for over 80 people.Liu plans to continue to expand the scale of the garment factory and recruit more people who are in need so that they can achieve common prosperity.Cao Shuyun is the president of the Yishui Huiyang Garment Co. In November 2016, Cao responded to the call of the Party Central Committee for poverty alleviation and set up a poverty alleviation garment processing workshop by taking into consideration the characteristics of the company and collaborating with the village secretary.Cao also dispatched technicians to provide technology guidance for over 50 villagers.Cao has built two poverty alleviation workshops in Shuangshan Village of Xiawei Township and Dazhuge Village of Zhuge Township, and recruited 146 disadvantaged people so that they can work close to their homes.Now, the average monthly income of workers exceeds 2,000 yuan, and all impoverished households in the workshop have successfully shaken off poverty.Lin Xizhen, a young volunteer from Pingshang Township of Linyi City, has been passing on the local women's historical heroism through her own actions.Lin, who succeeded in entrepreneurship, began to participate in volunteer service activities in 2014. Her focus is always on helping aspiring and disadvantaged students and particularly those from poverty-stricken families, as well as elderly people with no family.Lin said, "Sudden misfortunes could bring about tremendous economic and emotional trauma to the family members, especially the kids. If someone shows concern for them, offers them some help, they would be able to feel love, hope and strength; and, so long as they have confidence, they would have the motivation to fight."Inspired by Lin, not only her relatives and friends have become volunteers, many other people from society have also joined the volunteer service team. The team now has recruited over 70 youth volunteers.(Source: Cnwomen.com.cn/ Translated and edited by Women of China)http://www.womenofchina.cn/womenofchina/html1/people/others/1812/5556-1.htm

Children and their parents take part in a public reading gathering. [wenming.cn] Officials in Nitang Community, Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, have implemented a special program since last year to innovate their work mechanism, improve services and better protect children's rights and interests.The Child Rights Advocacy and Child Protection program was originally launched by the National Working Committee on Children and Women under State Council, with Nitang Community chosen as a pilot area.The project aims to build a child-centered community that is equipped with a professional team as well as comprehensive resources, said Wang Xiuqin, deputy secretary of Nitang Party committee.Wang said the community has formed a joint work mechanism involving families, the government and social forces to better protect children's interests, improve education and encourage them to actively participate in activities.For example, due to a family disaster, one young girl and her brother in Nitang became introverted and were unwilling to communicate with others.After taking part in activities such as reading, handicrafts courses and other fun events, the two children become confident and now they can organize activities on their own.The community features many convenient designs made especially for children. Organizers have developed two special routes to keep students safe when they travel to and from school, Wang said.The community has also cooperated with various social organizations to carry out lively parent-child activities to boost relations among children, families and the community.These organizations provide services such as childcare, basic knowledge courses for emergency and safety, and arts training.In addition, the community has selected 20 parents who are capable and warm-hearted to establish a volunteer team that helps create a harmonious community environment so as to help children grow up healthily, according to Wang. Participants at a parent-child reading activity [wenming.cn] (Source: China Women's News/Translated and edited by Women of China)http://www.womenofchina.cn/womenofchina/html1/features/rights/1812/5161-1.htm

Zhang Huixian visits a patient. [Xinhua] A country doctor has received much praise from locals for devoting herself to medical care in Yanyin Village, Puer, southwest China's Yunnan Province, for the past 19 years.Zhang Huixian, a member of Hani ethnic group, returned to her hometown to work as a countryside doctor after she graduated from a specialist secondary school in 1999.Since then, Zhang has walked every corner of the village and got to know the health condition of villagers of each household like the palm of her hand.Zhang would often goes to see her patients or brings them to the clinic immediately after picking up their phone calls. Sometimes, when she encountered diseases beyond her expertise, she strove to get patients to attend a hospital in the city.In recent years, Zhang has constantly learned new technologies and applied them to her practice, striving to improve her knowledge.Zhang is deeply appreciated by the locals due to her outstanding medical skills and a sense of responsibility.She said she will conscientiously do a good job in basic public health services and try her best to provide villagers with even better medical services in future. Zhang (2nd L) receives a patient in her clinic. [Xinhua]Zhang (M) chats with a villager on her way to see patients. [Xinhua]Zhang (L) chats with elderly people on her way to see patients. [Xinhua]Zhang prepares medicines in her clinic in Yanyin. [Xinhua] (Source: Xinhua/Translated and edited by Women of China)http://www.womenofchina.cn/womenofchina/html1/people/everyday/1812/5136-1.htm

Shen Yanyan dresses in bright Qiang clothes to introduce a tourist to the customs of the Qiang ethnic group. [China.org.cn] An embroidery expert from Niufei, a village in the county of Pingwu, Mianyang city, southwest China's Sichuan Province, has boosted the local economy over the past decade by promoting crafts and cultural tourism. Shen Yanyan, who is from the Qiang ethnic group, learned about her culture's distinctive style of embroidery from her grandma when she was a child. Since 1999, she ran her own businesses in downtown Mianyang. In 2008, she returned to her hometown after it was affected by a big earthquake in nearby Wenchuan County. Seeing her hometown in a state of devastation, Shen, as an inheritor of Qiang embroidery, an intangible cultural heritage of Pingwu, hoped to help rebuild it by teaching the traditional embroidery to her fellow citizens. In 2009, Shen founded a vocational education institute to give women free training. In the process, she felt the power of the embroidery, which enabled some people who lost their relatives in the earthquake to get rid of their sad mood and regain the courage to live. Considering the serious damage inflicted on her culture by the earthquake, Shen decided to revitalize it and find more inheritors. Wearing the traditional costume of her ethnic group, Shen visited households in different villages every day to teach Qiang embroidery skills and other handiwork. With an increase of women learning embroidery in her training school, more and more embroidery works appeared, which inspired Shen to create a sales platform for them. Thanks to her efforts over several years, she has turned her village into a stronghold of embroidery culture and experiences. So far, the village has trained over 3,000 female embroidery workers, several hundred of whom are from impoverished families. Every year, its embroidery workshop receives over 3 million orders from home and abroad. Their embroidery works were even shown at the UN. The female embroidery workers can also earn money from livestock and running homestay inns. They strike a good balance between family life and work. Nowadays, villagers regard Qiang embroidery as a good means for passing time. More women in the village decorate their clothes with Qiang embroidery and wear their distinctive attire to celebrate festivals. After raising enough fund in 2012, Shen established an industrial park featuring Qiang embroidery and tourism in the village. Last year, the Niufei Specialized Cooperative for Tourism Development was established, which brought work opportunities for 300 locals including those from six impoverished households. Meanwhile, the rice produced by this village through ecological means has been sold to many cities such as Shanghai and Beijing. Local people have seen a remarkable improvement in their lives. So far, the cooperative has generated an output of 17.8 million yuan. With Shen's help and encouragement, a woman named Chen Hongping from a nearby village renovated her house for tourism. Chen receives over 100 tourists with accommodation service during the tea picking festival each March. Tourists can experience embroidery and buy all kinds of local products such as homemade tea and plum wine at Chen's home. In this way, she has multiplied her income in recent years. Local officials have also constantly updated their management ideas. They often arrange for villagers to visit other provinces to learn how to develop rural tourism and invite designers to improve their homestay services. Niufei Village [China.org.cn] Shen Yanyan engages in embroidery. [China.org.cn] Shen Yanyan looks in the mirror. [China.org.cn] Boat-shaped Yunyun Shoes, a typical handiwork of Qiang embroidery [China.org.cn] Panda embroidery work [China.org.cn]Three women engage in embroidery together. [China.org.cn]Embroidery patterns are sewn to people's clothes [China.org.cn] A woman dressed in Qiang clothing [China.org.cn] A woman checks a local variety of plant. [China.org.cn] (Source: China.org.cn/Translated and edited by Women of China) http://www.womenofchina.cn/womenofchina/html1/special/1812/5125-1.htm

Ma Ronghua and her husband [Cnwomen.cn] A couple in east China's Anhui province have devoted themselves to modern agriculture and jointly lead local villagers to realize prosperity over the past few years after they quit their well-paid jobs and moved to the countryside.Ma Ronghua, 36, originally grew up in Handan, north China's Hebei province. She graduated from Hebei Agricultural University in 2004 with a major in plant conservation.Her husband Mei Wanfu is a native of Huaqiao Village, Wuhu county, Anhui. After working for five years as urban white-collar workers, they returned to Mei's hometown.In October 2010, they contracted over 10 hectares of land with all of their savings and set up Nengsheng Agricultural Technology Co. to grow fruit and vegetables.Since Mei was previously engaged in sales for nearly 10 years, he was responsible for the company's administrative management, customer communications and product marketing.Though Mei's parents and the neighbors couldn't understand why Ma and Mei's choice, the couple both concentrated on their business without hesitation. They also built a steel frame greenhouse over 2.6 hectares for vegetable cultivation and another 6.7 hectares of land to plant wheat.However, a typhoon in August 2012 completely destroyed the newly-built vegetable greenhouse. Thanks to the joint efforts of the county's government, women's federation and agriculture committee, the couple successfully applied for a disaster relief fund and their company resumed production.In the past few years, the couple have experienced more natural disasters such as a heavy snowfall and flooding. Nevertheless, the company's vegetable planting base continued to expand and develop.In 2012, the base was selected as a Wuhu Standard Vegetable Base and Wuhu Women's Entrepreneurship Demonstration Base. The brand Nengsheng won the title of Well-known Trademark of Wuhu City in 2015.With more confidence, Ma has been striding on the path to developing modern agriculture. Last year, she innovated the methods for growing gourds in greenhouses in the Yangtze River region.They contracted another 133 hectares of land this year to expand the scale of growing.In addition to developing their own career, the couple have also actively helped local villagers achieve prosperity.In 2012, Ma established a professional vegetable-growing cooperative in Wuhu county. With her rich knowledge and experience, Ma has carried out regular training and on-site guidance, and led over 160 households around the country to be engaged in vegetable cultivation.Each family has increased their annual income by over 20,000 yuan.She also helped so-called "left-behind" women and elderly people in the local area to find a job close to home.Due to her outstanding performance in agriculture and contribution to villagers, Ma has won nearly 10 honors such as the provincial March 8th Red-banner Pacesetter title. In September, Ma was also elected as a delegate to the 12th National Women's Congress.(Source: Cnwomen.cn/ Translated and edited by Women of China)http://www.womenofchina.cn/womenofchina/html1/people/others/1812/7830-1.htm

Wang Ya (L) with a student she sponsored [Women Voice] An elderly retiree in Tianjin has been committed to helping impoverished students complete their studies for 20 years and hopes to inspire more people to show care and compassion to young learners.Wang Ya first began donating to students in 1989 through Project Hope run by China Education Development Foundation.In 2016, Wang was inspired by the story of Professor Zhao Jiahe of Tsinghua University, who donated all his life savings to help impoverished students in western China before he passed away.Soon afterwards, she started to donate money to a foundation which was initiated by Zhao in northwest China's Gansu Province.Last March, Wang became a volunteer of the foundation, making home visits, reviewing students' materials and visiting special schools. She regarded this as her biggest goal after her retirement.In April, Wang was diagnosed with late-stage pancreatic cancer, but she did not stop her charity work. In May, hospitalized, Wang still managed to send donations she had already prepared for the foundation.In August, she abandoned her treatment and decided to make home visits in Gansu with what energy she had left.Wang also decided to donate an apartment to the foundation and signed up as an organ donor.Up till now, Wang has funded seven high school students.She said that, although she is retired, she still wants to be useful in society. For her, helping students in need brings her happiness.In addition to material support for children, Wang hopes they can be free to choose whatever they want to do. Wang Ya (2nd L) visits the home of a student she sponsored. [Women Voice]Wang Ya's donation certifications [Women Voice]Wang Ya (4th L) with students [Women Voice]Wang Ya (2nd L) signs a house donation agreement with a company belonging to her friend. [Women Voice]Wang Ya's home [Women Voice] (Source: Women Voice/Translated and edited by Women of China)http://www.womenofchina.cn/womenofchina/html1/people/everyday/1812/5122-1.htm

A family photo of Liu Xiangyu and Yang Suqin [paper.cnwomen.cn] A great wife and her disabled husband owe their happiness to decades of hard work and China's good policy.In the 80s, Liu Xiangyu, 18, was a pretty and industrious girl. Yang Suqin, 23, was a boy with an impaired left arm. At that time, they were both working away from their impoverished hometowns on the same construction site in Huixian County, central China's Henan Province. Liu often helped Yang after she found out he was disabled.After getting along for over a year, they fell in love. However, Liu's parents didn't approve of her getting married to Yang. Later, they met again and got married after Liu's parents passed away.In 1988, Yang was officially hired as a photographer in the Electric Power Bureau in Huixian. At this time, although they had low incomes and also needed to raise their newborn son, they still lived happily.Afterwards, they moved from their rental house to their place of work in order to save money.The work entailed in photography was difficult for Yang, and processing photos in the dark room was particularly tough, as he had only his right hand in use. Thus Liu decided to help her husband.She began to figure out film processing techniques and gradually grasped all the skills involved. Since then, she has become his all-around assistant.When the harvest season came in autumn, Liu would follow Yang back to his hometown to gather crops in the fields and she was good at doing farm work. Yang's father often praised her as a rare good wife.In August 1999, Yang's mother had a sudden heart attack, and Liu looked after her with great care for two months. Because of her kindness, she received praise from the villagers and was cited by older generations as a role model when cultivating their progeny. Through decades of hard work, their lives have gradually improved.They used all their own savings to buy a motorcycle and then Liu learned to ride it and took Yang to interviews.Over the course of the 30 years since they got married, Liu has taken care of Yang's food and clothing day after day. As Liu put it, she has been his left hand for his entire life. Nowadays, their family of four generations are leading a harmonious and happy life.At the end of the interview, they expressed their wishes for their family and country, "the fragrance of flowers comes from the true love of hearts, and the happiness of families is rooted in the prosperity of the motherland."(Source: paper.cnwomen.cn/Translated and edited by Women of China)http://www.womenofchina.cn/womenofchina/html1/people/others/1812/5093-1.htm

Dong Suzhen attends the 2018 FIFA World Cup Belt and Road National Brand Cooperation Forum. [Cnwomen.cn] A descendant from a well-known traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) family from east China's Shandong province has thrived in the country's health industry over the past years by vigorously promoting the concept of disease prevention.Dong Suzhen was born into a family of practitioners in the city of Gaomi. The family tradition and virtues have endowed her with the idea of benefiting the world, with a passion for TCM and an aspiration to promote traditional Chinese medicine.After the then 19-year-old Dong graduated from school in the 80s, she followed the expectations of her family and began her work in a foreign trade company.With her enthusiasm for business, meanwhile she also secretly got involved in a wide scope of business, including selling seafood, motorcycles, auto parts and clothing.Dong later entered the hairdressing industry. After visiting a number of salons, she decided to open a shop and provide hairdressing supplies with 20,000 yuan borrowed from relatives and friends.With her previous sales experience, coupled with her unique personality, the hairdressing store began to make a profit.She paid back all the loans at the end of the year. Soon, she had her own trading company specializing in Chinese medicine cosmetology, and started her own chain brand operation in the province.A chance experience inspired her to adjust her operation principle and increase her investment in treatments using Chinese medicine.Though many people proposed their disapproval of the action as it was a new field with uncertain future, Dong firmly believed that the transformation of beauty salons to TCM health care is an inevitable trend of the market.In 2007, Dong registered an international group and beauty products company in Hong Kong and Qingdao respectively, initially introducing concepts such as the preventive treatment of disease into the health care and physical welling industry.She has established over 20 branches across the country, with herself acting as president of the TCM Health Chain Group.In response to the nation's call for vigorously advocating the treatment of TCM and health maintenance, Dong founded the Selero Business School in 2008 to pass on diagnostic methods and physiotherapy techniques so as to benefit more talents.Under her leadership and active promotion, the business school has carried out nearly 10,000 activities including science lectures and free health checks, to improve the concept of disease prevention among the general public.While the country advocates the constant standardization of the health industry, Dong founded the Selero TCM Vocational Skills Training School in 2010.She also established a school-enterprise joint relationship with major Chinese medicine colleges and universities to jointly establish a health and wellness management program.The program aims to cultivate health management talents, strengthen academic exchanges, and compile practical skills and professional knowledge into teaching materials, promote the combination of theory and practice in major universities, and spread the health concept of disease prevention.With the support of relevant national policies, Dong became president of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Treatment Committee in 2015.She has committed herself to promoting the concept of Chinese medicine treatment; creating health standardization; and, set a benchmark for the health industry.She also took the lead in establishing the health management center for preventive treatment of disease, which has made valuable contributions to the promotion of the country's Chinese medicine treatment project.After three years of development, Selero TCM has now had over 7,000 healthcare centers set up across the country.Dong said, "It is imperative to construct a Chinese medicine preventive healthcare system with preventive treatment at the core. Health is related to every family and every individual, it is therefore not only a matter of the state and the government, but also the responsibility of enterprises and every social organization."(Source: Cnwomen.cn/ Translated and edited by Women of China)http://www.womenofchina.cn/womenofchina/html1/people/business/1812/5079-1.htm

Hai Wei (C) [Cnwomen.cn] A policewoman in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has achieved remarkable results in the past 21 years.Hai Wei, 45, played guard for the Xinjiang Women's Basketball Team for 10 years. After retiring in 1997, she became a policewoman of the railway public security bureau in the city of Urumqi.Beginning to focus on tracking down fugitives in 2007, she has captured 709 fugitives wanted by the public security authority.After working at the city's South Railway Station police station, Hai was first designated to investigate drug smuggling. Soon, she was assigned to posts in charge of national security, fighting drug smuggling, and capturing fugitives.In the third year of her work, China launched the first nationwide special campaign for rounding up criminals wanted on public security authority's internal website. In March 2005, the Ministry of Public Security issued a document to establish a long-term mechanism for the pursuit of fugitives. Capturing these fugitives has become a part of the daily work for the police officers.Since 2007, Hai and her colleagues have been on constant duty at the station to check on their desktop computer the identity of people, sometimes without taking a break at noon.After several years, Hai has developed her own routine, which was widely recognized by her colleagues and promoted in the investigation. However, Hai hit the bottleneck of her career a few years later.In 2013, she participated in a symposium at which officers of the national railway public security system share their experiences. The event greatly inspired her.She said that the traditional method of investigation has not been able to harvest the anticipated results. Thus, to conquer the negative emotions of some police officers, Hai decided to break with convention.Hai proposed an idea to fight online and established an online combat studio according to what she learned at the seminar.According to Hai, generally, she would first find out the list of fugitives related to Xinjiang from the public security intranet. She then use the information platform to search for the traces of fugitives, analyze relevant clues such as related persons, and finally lock down the activity area of the fugitives, and then conduct investigations on the ground before the actual capture taking place.According to Yang Hui, political commissar of the South Railway Station police station, Hai is good at finding valuable clues from trivial details. In recent years, she has undertaken 70 percent, sometimes 80 percent, of the capture mission."I don't have a particularly ambitious aim. I just want to set a good example for my daughter that I am worthy of my salary and I am worthy of this profession," said Hai.In this June, Hai was awarded the honorary title of National Public Security System Second Hero Model and Guardian of the People's Railway by the Ministry of Public Security and China Railway Corporation respectively for her outstanding performance in the pursuit of fugitives. The Urumqi Railway Public Security Bureau called on all police officers to learn from her. Hai Wei (C) [Cnwomen.cn] (Source: Cnwomen.cn/ Translated and edited by Women of China)http://www.womenofchina.cn/womenofchina/html1/people/everyday/1812/5076-1.htm

Qi Guoyan (R) studies methods of treating patients together with her colleague. [Xinhua] An expert on myasthenia gravis from Shijiazhuang, north China's Hebei Province, has helped many patients after transforming herself from a patient to a famous doctor through hard work. Qi Guoyan, 53, serves as honorary vice-president and dean of the Myasthenia Gravis Center in Shijiazhuang First Hospital and dean of the Hebei Diagnosis and Treatment Center for Myasthenia Gravis. Her life experience is like a legend. In 1989, Qi graduated from Hebei Medical University with distinction and joined the Internal Medicine Department of Shijiazhuang First Hospital. However, it seemed that life treated her with mischief. In 1990, she was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, which left her almost disabled. Influenced by hormones, she put on weight and suffered from osteoporosis and peptic ulcers. Worse still, her boyfriend broke up with her, with no explanation. The heavy blows of disease and relationship problems dealt to her made her think of putting an end to her own life. Thanks to her father's encouragement, she toughened up and made up her mind to cure herself and save more patients like her. She met numerous problems on her road to seeking medical treatment, which lasted for as long as nine years. On one occasion, she was at death's door owing to a severe lung infection. After a number of emergency treatments, she was saved, but what she cared about most was the method adopted by the doctors in saving her. Touched by her determination, many experts and professors shared with her their experiences accumulated over the years. Besides learning from them, she read books on traditional Chinese medicine voraciously. Although she ached all over, she classified medical materials meticulously, recording over 100 prescriptions that totaled over 10,000 words. In 1996, she decided to remove her thymus after reading a lot of materials about western medicine. Before undergoing surgery, she said to her doctor that she would not regret making such a choice if the experiment on her could help more patients find a way to recover. She even turned her own home into a test base by applying western and Chinese medicine techniques to herself, doing experiments and making summaries for nine years. Her efforts paid off and she finally recovered. Nine years later, she resumed her work and was determined to share her medical research and her own experience with patients. She received a boy named Yan Dong (pseudonym) from north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Yan was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis at age 19. With Qi's help, Yan's surgery went quite well. However, Yan applied several days later to be discharged from hospital for lack of money. Qi knew that all her previous efforts would be in vain if she approved the boy's application. Thus, she decided to help the boy with further treatment at her own expense. She also cooked delicious and nutritious food for the boy to improve his health. Her selfless love touched Yan deeply. Under her influence, Yan embarked on voluntary service in the hospital by helping other critically ill patients fetch water and doing the cleaning. Later, Yan was discharged from hospital after he recovered. Qi has since helped many patients like Yan.In 2009, Qi became the first dean of the Shijiazhuang Myasthenia Gravis Research Institute established by Shijiazhuang First Hospital. In 2013, she helped found Hebei Myasthenia Gravis Hospital. She has treated all her patients as her friends. Whenever she hears the groan of patients, she would think of what she had experienced during the nine years when she was a patient. That is why she can always put herself in her patients' shoes. Over the past five years, a team under Qi has treated over 30,000 patients for free, bringing hope to over 10,000 patients suffering from myasthenia gravis. In 2017, her thesis was on display in the form of a poster on the wall at the 13th International Seminar on Myasthenia Gravis held in New York. She has also won many awards, such as second prize in the scientific and technological achievements of Shijiazhuang in 2012.Under her leadership, her team has established the first sample database of myasthenia gravis in China. In addition, a research project about treating myasthenia gravis through Chinese medicine initiated by her has been put into action. In 2018, Qi was elected as a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC).At this year's two sessions, she made two proposals to benefit more myasthenia gravis patients in medical treatment. Much to her delight, a proposal has been adopted by the motion committee of the NPC. At her suggestion, the National Health Commission created an index of Chinese rare diseases, and myasthenia gravis was included. Qi Guoyan takes a patient's pulse. [Xinhua] Qi Guoyan checks a patient's state of health in a ward. [Xinhua] (Source: Xinhua/Translated and edited by Women of China) http://www.womenofchina.cn/womenofchina/html1/people/everyday/1812/5060-1.htm