Zeng Yunying

Village Party secretary

All Zeng Yunying ever wanted was a simple life, a loving husband and two happy children, a boy and a girl.

However, on Chinese New Year's Eve in 2001, a fire took everything in her house, and almost took her husband, too.

Although he survived thanks to Zeng's persistence and meticulous care, her husband sustained severe burns across more than 80 percent of his body. As he could no longer work, the impoverished family was left deep in debt.

Zeng, now 45, had no option but to become the family's breadwinner. In addition to working 10 hours a day at a clothing factory, she had to care for her husband, his parents and two children.

When finances were at their lowest ebb, the family ate pigs' lungs at every meal for several months because Zeng could not afford anything else.

"No matter how hard life became, I never cried in front of my family. I was their rock, and I could not show any signs of weakness," said Zeng, from Qicuo, a village in Putian city in the eastern province of Fujian. "I only wished that someday I would be able to have a good sleep, pay off our debts and make sure the family could eat a decent meal."

In 2007, Zeng's fellow villagers elected her as Party secretary of Qicuo, and since then she has devoted her time to raising living standards.

Most of the villagers are farmers, but good farmland is in short supply, so most residents earned about 2,000 yuan ($288) a year.

Zeng decided to promote the cultivation of fruits, such as mangoes, loquats and longans, and after much negotiation, factories that make shoes and electronic equipment came to the village, too.

As a result, incomes have risen, and now some residents can make more than 10,000 yuan a year.

"I'm used to taking care of people. I've taken care of my husband for more than 17 years, my two children are healthy and kind adults now, and I have led the people of my village out of poverty," Zeng said.

She added that life can be hard and even cruel sometimes, but as long as you do not give up, it can also improve.

"What does not kill you only makes you stronger," she said.