The running girl - Lu Yuting

Lu Yuting, 15, is a middle school student in southwest China‘Chengdu city. She was always running when people saw her. She couldn’t slow down because she wanted to save time. She cut her hair short because she wanted to run faster.

Running was a heavy responsibility for her. She had to take care of her mother who suffered uremia and her 80 year old mother. She had to do house work, to prepare for high school entrance examination; moreover she had to earn money to support the family. People touched by her gave her a nickname “the running girl”; she was awarded the title “Chinese youth with greatest filial piety”.

Lu has not heard from her father after he left home when she was a little girl. She lived with her mother and grandmother and they relied on each other. Her mother Sun Xiaoyan was a ticket sender for a local travel agency, and was also the only source of the family’s income, so the family was by no means well-off.

The family was doing okay until mishap fell in 2011 when Sun Xiaoyan was sent to hospital due to uremia, and the family lost its only source of income. From then on, Lu has shouldered family responsibility. She decided to quit school to look after her mother and grandmother.

To maintain the family’s livelihood, she took over her mother’s job and started to send tickets. Every early morning, she went to the travel agency to get tickets and then distributed to the clients on time. She used every cent carefully in order to save money to pay for the family’s living cost and her mother’s medical expenses.

Under her good care, her mother’s condition was getting better in one year. In September 2012, her mother persuaded her to go back to school to prepare for high school entrance exam. During the one-hour lunch time at school, she ran outside to send tickets to clients and then ran back to school before the afternoon class; after school, she ran to the hospital to see her mother; she did homework while her mother was under treatment and then took her home; at home, she cooked dinner and did housework for mother and grandmother.

When she was asked “Why don’t you have some water often?” She said, “I really have no time”; when she was asked “Do you feel tired?” she answered, “I have gotten used to this.” When she was asked “What are you afraid of?” She said, “When I went home and knocked at the door and no one answered, I was afraid that my mother died.”

She knew her mother would leave her one day, so on her 15th birthday, she and her mother, grandmother took a family photo, which is the only photo they took together. She said this photo is the most precious to her.

Unfortunately her mother passed away in October 2013; her mother’s death was an extremity of pain to her, but she wasn’t overwhelmed in the pain. She said, “My mom was worried about me so much when she left me, so I will keep on going, go to university, look after my grandmother and create a beautiful future. I will let my mom feel I am still making effort in my life.”