Li Xiuying

Li Xiuying was born in 1920 in a water-scarce mountain village in Boshan, Shandong. She never went to school and could only write her own name throughout her life. Others say that the three characters "Li Xiuying" are more beautiful than the embroidered flowers. When she was young, she was arranged by her sister to marry into the Ke family's old house in Huancheng. The husband Keli is silent and dull, and supports the family by driving a car and working in the mines; the powerful eldest brother and his sister who live in the Wang Garden are like a shadow that cannot be shaken off. War, famine, communes, movements, and allotment of farmland to each household passed by her one after another. She did not become a hero, she just guarded the water tank, stove fire, jujube tree and children, and supported the family bit by bit. She has seen her relatives swallowed up by power, and she has seen her husband die on the way to the hospital. She has seen a date tree save her life, and she has also seen it cut down by road builders. Her children and grandchildren grew up and went into mines, military camps and distant cities, but she was gradually left in the old house and memory. When Xiuying died in 2008, she kept holding her breath, waiting for her eldest grandson Xiaohui to come back from Shenzhen. The little grandson rushed to the bedside from No. 1 Middle School in the county, held her hand and said, "Xiaohui is back." Only then did Xiuying take her last breath.