Li Yanping Chinese woman who raised 80 adopted children Country: China

1. Biography of Li Yanping
2. Early Life
3. The Sacrifice
4. A Growing Family
5. The Present Day

Biography of Li Yanping

Li Yanping, also known as the "Chinese Mother Teresa," is a Chinese woman who has raised and continues to raise 80 foster children over the course of 22 years. Most of the children in her improvised shelter are those with developmental disabilities who have little chance of being adopted. Li Yanping resides in Yaopu village, Shanxi Province, China, and her fame has spread throughout the region due to her selfless dedication to these abandoned children.

Early Life

Li Yanping, currently in her early fifties, got married at the age of 21 and soon after gave birth to her own healthy child. At that time, she led an ordinary Chinese family life, but her journey as the "Chinese Mother Teresa" began in 1989 when her husband found an abandoned infant at their doorstep. The child was also sickly, but neither Li nor her husband could bear to turn away from the baby. They decided to raise the child as their own.

The Sacrifice

As financial hardships plagued their family, Li had to make a difficult choice between her own child and the foster child. Unable to support both, she made the heart-wrenching decision to send her own child to an orphanage, reasoning that a healthy child had a greater chance of being adopted than one with physical disabilities. This choice earned her both respect and criticism, with some commending her selflessness and others deeming her insane.

A Growing Family

As time passed, Li and her husband took in more sickly children, one after another. Despite their precarious financial situation and the constant struggle to make ends meet, they never abandoned any of the children. By the time her husband passed away, they had 13 children, many of whom were fully dependent on Li. The loss of her husband significantly reduced the family's income, but Li persevered with the help of her neighbors, who provided clothing, food, and baby supplies. Later on, she also received some assistance from the government.

The Present Day

Li Yanping and her 13 foster children live in poverty, with the most valuable possession in their home being a 29-inch television. They only have a refrigerator among their other electrical appliances. However, Li remains undeterred and is determined to provide her foster children with a decent education. She believes that giving a weak child a chance to survive was the right choice and could not have foreseen that helping other children would become the purpose of her life. Today, she cannot imagine her life without her children and is willing to make any sacrifice to open a path to a better life for these little orphans.