The 70-year-old wife of Xingtang County took care of the vegetative husband for 10 years before she fell ill.

Early in the morning, the sun shines into a bungalow in Xingtang County. Li Qingliang, 74, sat in a wheelchair with glazed eyes and instinctively looked at his wife. Seeing her husband's glance, Yang Rongxiu quickly laid down his work and combed his hair carefully. This picture has been frozen in this family for ten years since Li Qingliang became a vegetable because of a cerebral infarction 10 years ago.

Yang Rongxiu is 75 years old, one year older than Li Qingliang, and the two have spent 53 years together. Before retiring, Li Qingliang was a teacher, while Yang Rongxiu worked at home. In August 1996, Li Qingliang had a sudden cerebral infarction and stayed in the hospital for more than a month. This accident unexpectedly laid the foundation for the future. In May 2007, Li Qingliang was in a coma again because of a cerebral infarction. Although he was rescued and saved, he became a vegetative without expression and consciousness.

Li Qingliang can neither move nor speak. Every morning, Li Qingliang will pee, and Yang Rongxiu will replace it with a new one. For this reason, the quilts she washes every day are piled higher than the stool. Li Qingliang weighs more than 170 jin. Every time he wipes shit and changes clothes, Yang Rongxiu has to use all his strength to carry her husband on the chair.

The doctor said that patients who lie still for a long time will develop bedsores, and Yang Rongxiu turns her husband over every few hours. In order not to sleep to death at night, Yang Rongxiu drinks desperately before going to bed to ensure that he can get up in the middle of the night. For a time, Yang Rongxiu learned enema, catheterization and massage because her husband had difficulty defecating an enlarged prostate. Neighbors said she became half a doctor.

Yang Rongxiu's meticulous care finally made her husband's condition better. Since four years ago, every time Yang Rongxiu fed, Li Qingliang would turn his eyes and raise the corners of his mouth slightly. Yang Jung-hsiu was ecstatic at this discovery, remembering that her husband used to like to listen to the theatre, so she bought a record player for her husband to listen to. In her spare time, she would sing, read the news, and often listen to him. Now, ten years later, the children have given up hope for Li Qingliang's illness, but Yang Jung-hsiu has never given up. Yang Jung-hsiu says, "I accompany him every day just like he did when he wasn't sick. When he wakes up, I want him to see me at first sight. If I can't wake up, I'll let him live for a few more years!" (reporter Zhao Yuanjun)