Li Juan sits in pear orchard in Tangzhai Village of Tangzhai Town in Dangshan County, east China's Anhui Province, Oct. 23, 2019.
HEFEI, Oct. 25, 2019 (Xinhua) -- Li Juan, a 30-year-old woman in Anhui province, is lying on her hospital bed, biting a stylus and clicking on her mobile phone screen to communicate with friends, customers and couriers. She updates her WeChat moments and post the latest information on fruits from her hometown. Everything is so skillful and impalpable that it is a severely disabled person who has been paralyzed for 12 years.
Li Juan sits in her family's pear orchard in Tangzhai Village of Tangzhai Town in Dangshan County, Oct. 23, 2019. (Xinhua/Liu Junxi)
In 2008, 19-year-old Li Juan was found to have syringomyelia and then paralyzed in bed with only head movement. After that, Li Juan once fell into despair and "felt like a little bird with broken wings."
In 2015, Li Juan received a touch-screen phone by installing an Internet cable. Li quickly learned to surf the Internet by tying a stylus to her chopsticks with tape. Since then, fate has opened a glimmer of light to Li Juan. Her world is no longer a bed and a room. She surfs on the Internet, registering for QQ and WeChat, and typing with her mouth faster than most people do with their hands.
Li Juan sells pears on the Internet through mobile phone in Tangzhai Village of Tangzhai Town in Dangshan County, Oct. 23, 2019. (Xinhua/Liu Junxi)
The village of Tangzhai in Xiashan County, where Li Juan lived, boasts an large range of crisp pear orchards and apple orchards. The village had a bumper harvest of apples in the fall of 2015, but faced a slump in sales. To help families and villagers sell apples, Li Juan began to sell fruit on the Internet for the first time. Day and night, Li Juan held the stylus, her mouth was blistered with blood, and her incisors were gnawed out. In a month, Li Juan sold nearly 5,000 kilograms of apples for her family. Li Juan, who has opened up new sales channels, started to help villagers sell fruit online.
Li Juan sits in her family's pear orchard in Tangzhai Village of Tangzhai Town in Dangshan County, Oct. 23, 2019. (Xinhua/Liu Junxi)
Li Juan posts photos of pears on the Internet in Tangzhai Village of Tangzhai Town in Dangshan County, Oct. 23, 2019. (Xinhua/Liu Junxi)
Li Ziao, the younger brother, feeds Li Juan at home during lunch time in Tangzhai Village of Tangzhai Town in Dangshan County, Oct. 23, 2019. (Xinhua/Liu Junxi)
Villagers sort pears in Tangzhai Village of Tangzhai Town in Dangshan County, Oct. 23, 2019. (Xinhua/Zhang Duan)
In recent years, Li Juan's e-commerce platform has become larger and larger, and she has set up her own e-commerce company, which not only sells her own fruits, but also helps villagers and poor families in the village sell fruits and agricultural products.
Li Juan sits in her family's pear orchard in Tangzhai Village of Tangzhai Town in Dangshan County, Oct. 23, 2019. (Xinhua/Zhang Duan)
Li Juan smells a newly-picked pear in her family's pear orchard in Tangzhai Village of Tangzhai Town in Dangshan County, Oct. 23, 2019. (Xinhua/Zhang Duan)
Li Juan sits in her family's pear orchard in Tangzhai Village of Tangzhai Town in Dangshan County, Oct. 23, 2019. (Xinhua/Zhang Duan)
Li Xueru, the younger sister, holds Li Juan onto a wheelchair in Tangzhai Village of Tangzhai Town in Dangshan County, Oct. 23, 2019. (Xinhua/Zhang Duan)
Li Xueru, the younger sister, washes hair for Li Juan at home in Tangzhai Village of Tangzhai Town in Dangshan County, Oct. 23, 2019. (Xinhua/Zhang Duan)
Li Xueru, the younger sister, pushes Li Juan out on a wheelchair in Tangzhai Village of Tangzhai Town in Dangshan County, Oct. 23, 2019. (Xinhua/Zhang Duan)
Li Juan sits in her family's pear orchard in Tangzhai Village of Tangzhai Town in Dangshan County, Oct. 23, 2019. (Xinhua/Liu Junxi)
I am a broken-winged bird. Flying into the blue sky is my biggest goal... My heart is still strong; my persistence shines. Life's endless road, but there is always a me.
"This is my favorite song," Li said.■
