Blended family embraces new life through hard work

Lin Xingcong checks his ginkgo trees, May 4. (Photo/Xinhua)

Lin Xingcong and Li Yunxiang, who lost their respective spouses in the major Wenchuan earthquake that struck on May 12, 2008, have now embraced a new life through hard work after they built a new family together in 2009.

After Lin and Li tied the knot, they combined their efforts to take care of five seniors and three children in Maoxiang village, Gaochuan township, Anzhou district of Mianyang city in southwest China’s Sichuan province.

The couple built a new house and has been planting commercial trees to support their blended family. In 2019, the couple also started cultivating traditional Chinese herbs.

More than 10 years on from the earthquake, Lin’s adult children have started their own families. Lin is proud of his children. “My eldest daughter Lin Ling runs her own business with her friends in Chengdu, capital city of Sichuan, while the middle child Lin Shunping is a manager of an agricultural company in another city within the province. My youngest son, Qiu Chao, is a hairdresser in Xiushui town in Anzhou district,” the man said excitedly.

During this year’s May Day holiday, Lin’s children traveled back to their hometown in Maoxiang village for a family reunion. The man also worked with his children in the forest.

“I want to tell them that happiness cannot be achieved without hard work,” Lin said, hoping that they will go on to make outstanding achievements in their respective posts.

In recent years, Maoxiang village, which was once poverty-stricken, has taken on a new look, thanks to the development of tree cultivation and poultry raising businesses in the forests nearby, as well as with the continued support of government policies.