Scaling new heights

When he was about 15 years old, he stuffed himself into a garbage bin in winter hoping to freeze to death, but he was saved by an old woman who found him and gave him food.

In the end he finally gave up the idea of killing himself.

"I decided to be thankful for what I do have, and not be mad about what I don't," he says.

In 2000, when Chen was at the foot of Taishan Mountain, he felt a strong desire to get to the top of the mountain to see the sunrise.

"I asked a man who returned to the foot from the mountain's top - 'How high is the mountain?' The man looked down at me and said: 'It's useless for you to ask this question. No matter how high it is, you are not able to climb the mountain,'" Chen recalls.

"His words pushed me to climb the mountain. I wanted to prove that I can live as a normal person."

He spent 14 hours getting to the highest peak on Taishan Mountain, which is 1,532 meters above sea level, with the help of two wooden boxes.

"As I climbed many people advised me to give up, but I kept on going," Chen says.

To date he has climbed more than 90 mountains in China, including Huashan Mountain in Shannxi province, which is known for its steepness.

The same year Chen started climbing mountains, he began singing in the streets to make a living. This brought him his biggest reward when he met his beautiful wife.