Armless but not defeated

Luo Fengzhi runs her online store on Taobao.com, which brings in about 3,000 yuan a month. Xu Wei / China Daily

Her plight would have made a lesser person give up, but Luo Fengzhi had the love, courage and perseverance to move forward in life despite her disability. Xu Wei and Sun Ruisheng report in Taiyuan, Shanxi.

Born armless, Luo Fengzhi, 30, has proved that feet can be capable alternatives. Luo, from Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi province, has been a subject of extensive media coverage since she was in primary school and her story has been a source of inspiration to many.

She became the focus of the media again recently when she became the life tutor of a 3-year-old, also born armless, abandoned and then adopted in Taiyuan earlier this year.

"I kept telling people: It does not make sense to complain about life. Even if you are disabled, your life can still be wonderful," she says.

Life has never been easy, but looking back, Luo says she has survived, and experienced both bitter and sweet moments with the help and support of so many kind people. She says she also needs love, courage and perseverance and that's what she hopes to share, to inspire and encourage others.

"I might not have a life as splendid as many aspire to, but I do have a life that I enjoy," she says. "I hope, through me they can see the future of the child and hold on to it," she says, referring to the adoptive parents of her little charge.

Luo, born in Wucun village, Qingxu county in Taiyuan, was abandoned by her biological parents. She was abandoned a second time by another family who took her home before being finally adopted by her current parents who lived in the village nearby.

"My mother told me I barely survived the low temperatures in April and there were already ants in my belly when my uncle took me home," she says.

Despite the bitter episodes in her early life, Luo says her childhood was happy and she never found it difficult getting along with other children. She says she barely remembers how she gradually got used to using her feet to eat and to get dressed, and eventually, to cook, to sew and to write with her feet.

"Probably it is part of our survival instinct," she says.

The biggest challenge for Luo was the stigma in society.

"My mother had to keep pleading with the school principal to enroll me and try to convince them that I would not be of any trouble to them," she recalls.