An essay written by an Yi ethnic orphan girl in the Daliang Mountains, Sichuan, has drawn grave concern among many Chinese people.

Tears

My dad passed away four years ago.

My dad loved me very much when he was alive. My mom always tries her best to cook my favorite food for me. She must miss my dad very much.

Mom was sick one day, we went to the county, and then to Xichang (to see doctors). But all the money is gone, her condition not improved.

One day mom was too sick to get up. I cried in front of her and said to her: “ Mommy, you will get better soon. I will support you and cook food for you. After you eat the food I cook for you, and you go to bed, you will surely get better.”

But the next day, mom still could not get up and she looked very sick. I had to ask my uncle who just came back from fieldwork and we together sent her to a county hospital.

On the third day, I went to the hospital to see my mom but she still not awake yet. I washed her hand gently and she then woke up.

Mom said to me while holding my hand:” my darling, I want to go home!”

 I asked:” why?”

“It is not comfortable here, I will feel comfortable at home.”

So I brought mom home and we sited for a little while. Then I went to cook for my mom. But by the time when I called her to eat for meal I cook, she was already dead.

Text book said there is a place called Sun Moon Lake (in Taiwan). The tears I shed for missing my mom is just as much as the lake.

                                                              Liu Yi 

                                                            June 20,2015

The girl, named Kuyiwumu (Liu Yi as pen name), is a fourth grader student in a poor village in Meigu of the Daliang Mountain area. She lost her father four years ago and recently her mother also passed away. Her heartbreaking story about her mother’s poor health and death was posted online by a Xinhua correspondent and many Chinese netizens expressed deep concerns about the child.

In her essay, she said her mother had been sick for a while but still tried to support her by giving her the best food she could. But one day, her mother was too sick to get up and she called her uncle to send her to a county hospital, miles away from her run-down home in a poor village in the mountainous area.

But the hospital could not save her life. Her mother insisted on going home and died the next day after she was sent home.

Despite years of rapid economic growth in major cities and coastal areas, people in China’s mountainous areas like the Daliang Mountains still live a very poor life. The government has been making efforts to assist these areas by allocating special funds and support but results are not obvious due to its harsh natural conditions and poor economic foundation. 

Students study at a school in Kuyiwumu's hometown