Cooking, cleaning, washing... all in a 14-hour whirl

"My daughters (aged 24 and 26) have asked me to give up work and let them support me," Shen says. "But I don't want be a burden."

Like many women in rural China, Shen, from a village in Jingzhou, Central China's Hubei province, married when she was 17, even though, by the letter of the law, women are not supposed to marry until they are 20.

Her older daughter and her boyfriend have settled in a city in Shandong province after she graduated from university, and they plan to marry in the second half of this year.

The younger daughter works for a logistics company in Shenzhen and attends an open university during the weekend, aiming to upgrade in two years a diploma that she obtained earlier.

"When they were young, I worked hard so they could get a good education," Shen says.

"Now I'm working hard to help them fulfill their dreams; their dreams are my dreams."

The daughter in Shandong who is about to marry plans to buy an apartment there, and Shen and her husband have been considering chipping in to help them with the mortgage and helping the younger daughter to pay for her education.

Shen is an only child, and her parents, both in their 70s, are another big concern. Last year, her mother broke her arm and Shen stopped working so she could return home and look after her.

Although farmers are covered by medical insurance, Shen says she needs to keep some money aside in case of emergencies.

Her husband, a chef in a company canteen, is much more relaxed than her, she says. He loves music and has never quite given up his dream of being a professional singer.

Just a couple of days earlier, he splashed out 7,000 yuan ($1,122, 812 euros), about how much she is paid in two months, to buy a saxophone.

But if that irks Shen, she is showing none of it, seeing it all as rather amusing.