Make me your Homepage
left corner left corner
China Daily Website

Qingchuan: Teenager makes it to global arena

Updated: 2013-05-09 14:21
(China Daily)

As a child, there was nothing Tang Xuemei wanted more than to walk out of her remote village locked in the mountains of Southwest China. She longed to see what was in the cities and towns.

It took an earthquake to help her achieve her dream, but it was at a great cost.

"I am both fortunate and unfortunate," says Tang, 18. "The unfortunate part is that I became disabled. The lucky part is that following this turn of life, I can have even bigger dreams."

Qingchuan: Teenager makes it to global arena

Tang Xuemei lost her left leg in the earthquake and has since become a member of the national women's sitting volleyball squad. [Photo by Jiang Hongjing/ For China daily]

She is now invited often to cities like Beijing and Shanghai to share her success story and she has ventured far beyond the borders of her wildest dreams. She represented China in sitting volleyball at the 2012 Paralympics in London.

The young survivor of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake paid for that honor with her left leg, which had to be amputated after she was trapped under concrete slabs for 28 hours when her school collapsed and crumbled in the tremors.

She was rescued and sent to a hospital in Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi province, where doctors decided her leg had to go. She had also lost her home.

Born into a poor rural family in Qingchuan county in Sichuan province, Tang had never left the place she was born, and she was working toward leaving it when she was old enough for college.

"The earthquake was so powerful that it jolted almost everything into pieces," she recalls. "When I came back to my village from Xi'an, I could hardly find my way home."

But assistance rendered by warm-hearted people, especially a couple who met her on a bus and adopted her as goddaughter, helped the girl leave the shadows behind.

Her talent in sports was first discovered at a disabled people's association in Sichuan where she was trained to swim and play tennis.

Her destiny as a volleyball player was sealed in 2009, when she was spotted in Shanghai by Zhang Chaoqun, deputy director of the Shanghai Disabled Persons' Sport Training Center.

"She has a tall stature and long arms," Zhang said in an interview in 2011. The tough, undefeated spirit of the teenager also touched the official.

But training as a volleyball player was a lot more physically challenging than the girl expected. She trained five to six hours a day, six days a week.

But the teenager persevered and became the youngest player on the national squad at the Guangzhou Asian Para Games in 2010 and 2012 London Paralympics.

Zhang Jun, the coach of the national squad of women's sitting volleyball, says Tang is a hopeful for the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Tang is the team's setter, a very important position in sitting volleyball because it requires agility.

"She is young and packs a punch," the coach says. "She is also very sanguine and always a team player. The 2008 disaster has left few shadows on her mind."

Like any young woman, Tang enjoys shopping, surfing the Internet and lying about during weekends. But she appreciates the care given to her by teammates and coaches which makes her life as an athlete less tedious.

Having only visited home three times since she left Sichuan in 2009, the young woman says she misses her parents and younger brother. She especially misses a childhood friend who died in the 2008 earthquake with whom she had shared a lot of laughter and sweet memories.

"Her parents still greet me warmly when I go back home," Tang says.

Looking forward, Tang says she will focus on sports for now, but will probably find a job as an office worker after she retires.

Following the earthquake, transportation in Qingchuan county has improved considerably, and villages are now connected by asphalt roads, according to Tang.

The journey between the school and home, which was by a dirt track and took about four hours, has now been shortened to a 45-minute car ride, she says.

But there are still many, old and young, whom Tang hopes will get to see more of the outside world.

"There are still many elderly people who have never left the mountains," she says. "I hope there can be a government program to take them out and help them visit other parts of China."

8.03K
 
...
Hot Topics
China launched its second space laboratory, the Tiangong II, on Thursday night, which space officials said will become the country’s largest scientific platform in space.
...
...
主站蜘蛛池模板: 热久久99影院| 日本SM极度另类视频| 中日韩中文字幕| 国产精品国产三级国产av剧情| 久久午夜伦鲁片免费无码| 日本免费网站视频www区| 无码人妻av一区二区三区蜜臀| 亚洲中文字幕久久精品无码喷水| 色之综合天天综合色天天棕色| 在线观看永久免费视频网站| 九九在线中文字幕无码| 精品无码国产一区二区三区av| 国产小视频精品| www.色噜噜| 成品人视频ww入口| 亚洲成人一级电影| 男人天堂2023| 午夜在线视频一区二区三区| 蜜桃成熟时2005| 国产成人小视频| k频道国产欧美日韩精品| 少妇熟女久久综合网色欲| 亚洲人成77777在线播放网站| 漂亮人妻洗澡被公强| 免费人成在线观看网站品爱网| 美国式禁忌交换伴侣| 国产一区内射最近更新| 青青草97国产精品免费观看| 国内精品videofree720| stoya在线观看| 日韩美女性生活视频| 亚洲免费视频网| 欧美成人午夜片一一在线观看| 亚洲欧美黄色片| 澳门a毛片免费观看| 亚洲首页在线观看| 真实男女动态无遮挡图| 国产在线观看麻豆91精品免费| 99久久99久久精品国产片| 日产精品卡2卡三卡乱码网址| 久久天天躁狠狠躁夜夜2020一|