Model citizen: 94-year-old takes care of daughter-in-law

Sun Yincong in black helps wash Ren Caimei's face at their home in Taian village, Ruicheng county, Yuncheng city in North China's Shanxi province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Here's a story that should warm your heart. A woman who herself is in her 90s has been taking care not of her husband or children but her daughter-in-law and not for one year, two year or even 10 years but for more than two decades.

Sun Yincong, 94, has been named one of the moral citizens in North China's Shanxi province of the first half of 2016, as she has been caring for her partially paralyzed daughter-in-law for nearly 27 years, local newspaper Sanjin City News reported on Tuesday.

Sun from Taian village in Ruicheng county, Yuncheng city in North China's Shanxi province, has been called the most respected person in the village by locals, who volunteer to celebrate the old woman's birthday on the eighth day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar.

"Sun has spent 27 years taking care of her paralyzed daughter-in-law, and has never left her side. It's common to see daughters-in-laws looking after mothers-in-law, but Sun's case is just the opposite," said a villager, who refused to disclose his or her name.

In November, 1989, Sun's husband died of illness, while their son died from gas poisoning just 10 days after the father's death. Ren Caimei, Sun's daughter-in-law, was so shocked by the tragidies that she got hemiplegia (partial paralysis) due to a cerebral hemorrhage six months later.

Sun decided to take care of Ren wholeheartedly then and there.

"My grandma never leaves my mother aside for a moment and looks after her. Once my mother got such a severe cerebral hemorrhage that doctors were ready to give up. And our relatives and friends also asked my grandma to give up the treatment. However, my grandma insisted on taking my mother to other doctors. Thanks to my kind grandma, my mother is still alive," said Gao Weidong, the eldest grandson of Sun.

As Sun and Ren grow older and older, Sun couldn't carry her daughter-in-law. Since 2015, Sun has asked Gao Hongyu, Ren's daughter, to help put on Ren's clothes and carry her on the wheelchair each morning and carry her to bed each evening. Gao lives in the same village.

Gao Hongyu said: "Each morning, grandma helps wash mother's face and comb her hair. Grandma usually takes my mother to enjoy the sunshine when it's sunny. And grandma is used to preparing meals after asking my mother's opinions with gestures. When my mother draws a circle with hands, my grandmother will serve her baked pancake, and when my mother draws a long strip with hands, my grandmother will prepare noodles for her."

Living next to Ren's room, Sun said: "Thanks to our family's efforts, our lives are better nowadays. No matter what happens, our family will keep on living full life."

"Great personality is embodied in everyday life. Sun is also very kind to other villagers. What she did teaches her family members, neighbors and other villagers," said Zhang Chaoping, head of Taian village.