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Originally from Yan'an, Shaanxi Province, Zhang Yonghong was born into an ordinary rural family that has been farming for generations. His parents were such hard-working and simple farmers. Originally, this was supposed to be just an ordinary life story, but fate played a cruel joke on him.
When he was three years old, his family was shocked to notice that his height seemed to have stopped growing, an anomaly that left the whole family deeply worried. Without hesitation, they decided to take him in a rudimentary board car to a hospital in Yan'an for a comprehensive and detailed physical examination.
After in-depth research and diagnosis by doctors, Zhang Yonghong was diagnosed with rare brittle bone disease and dwarfism. This means that his bones are much weaker than normal, he is highly susceptible to fractures, and his height will always be fixed at just 0.7 meters.
When the mother burst into tears when she heard the sad news, the father sighed helplessly, his eyes filled with endless anxiety about his son's future.
The family's financial situation is not well-off, and it is even difficult to afford the high long-term medical expenses. After careful consideration, the parents had to make the difficult decision to entrust the young Zhang Yonghong to the care of his grandparents.
Luckily, Grandma is a well-respected master of paper-cutting in the village, and she is often invited to cut festive colored paper auspicious clouds and auspicious patterns for her neighbors to celebrate important festivals for the villagers.
Under the influence of his grandmother, Zhang Yonghong developed a strong interest in this ancient folk art from an early age. Every day, he would watch his grandmother's paper-cutting figure intently, observing how she skillfully used scissors to sway freely on rice paper, and how she was engrossed in the composition, depicting lifelike characters and scenes stroke by stroke.
Grandma also actively encouraged Zhang Yonghong to try it himself, teaching him how to improve in the details.
Due to her family's poverty, Zhang Yonghong was unable to buy professional paper-cutting tools, so she had to use needles instead, carving fine details on the paper bit by bit. Despite the hardships involved, his love for the craft never wavered.
On the contrary, he devoted himself more wholeheartedly to it, and found his own happiness and value in artistic creation.
When he was eighteen years old, Zhang Yonghong unexpectedly won the championship in the Shaanxi Youth Paper-cutting Competition. This made his yearning and ambition for the outside world burn like a flame in his heart.
Young and enthusiastic, he saw that his peers could go out to work and make money, and he also longed to leave his hometown and go to the outside world.
Although his father firmly objected, believing that walking on the road with his thin body was tantamount to a journey to death, Zhang Yonghong still resolutely responded: "I have unique skills, and I don't have to worry about hunger at all!" Prompted by his firm conviction, his father's admonition paled in comparison.
So, Zhang Yonghong resolutely left his hometown and embarked on an adventurous journey to Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province. However, life in Taiyuan was not as good as he expected.
Not only did he find it difficult to find a suitable job, but he was also snubbed and discriminated against even by others for begging.
As a small person with a disability, he could barely find shelter, let alone find a way to survive.
Despair shrouded his heart like a haze, and Zhang Yonghong fell into an unprecedented predicament in life. If you choose to turn back at this time, you will undoubtedly lose face. In order to maintain his dignity, he decided to set up a paper cutting stall in Taiyuan Wuyi Square to make ends meet.
Each piece of paper sells for only two cents, but he most often cuts the zodiac motifs. If they meet people who are kind-hearted and generous, they will also pay Zhang Yonghong one yuan directly, without change.
In this way, he can earn a meager income of fifty or sixty yuan a day.
Despite the hardships of life, every time he counted the meager income from his hard work, there was always a small sense of joy and accomplishment in his heart. However, this happiness is always short-lived.
Because his wealth was too conspicuous, he was soon coveted by thieves.
It was a quiet night, and Zhang Yonghong was struggling to walk through the streets alone when he was suddenly blocked by a thief with a sharp blade.
Faced with a life-and-death situation, Zhang Yonghong was not afraid, he gritted his teeth and responded: "This money is more precious to me than life, even if it is death, I will never reveal half a point!" The thief was enraged and kicked him several times.
Fortunately, at this moment, a well-wisher called the police, and Zhang Yonghong was able to break free from the danger.
The police escorted him back to his hometown safely, Zhang Yonghong handed over the bank card with 2,000 yuan in cash to his parents, and said with a smile: "Mom and Dad, now I can live independently!"
After being forced to return to his hometown, Zhang Yonghong finally realized that paper-cutting was an important turning point in his life after in-depth thinking. He was determined to pass on and carry forward this skill.
Therefore, Zhang Yonghong and his brothers decisively chose Xi'an, an ancient capital rich in profound historical and cultural accumulation, as the starting point of their new career, bursting with new vitality.
They successfully rented a small shop at the foot of the ancient city wall of Xi'an, and Zhang Yonghong's unique and subtle figure and extraordinary paper-cutting skills quickly attracted the attention of many young students and tourists.
As time passed, business flourished and wealth poured in. The keen landlord saw at a glance the huge business potential of Zhang Yonghong, and offered to work with him to jointly set up a paper-cutting training course.
In this way, Zhang Yonghong's career is rolling bigger and bigger like a snowball, and it is unstoppable.
Early one morning in 2003, Zhang Yonghong was setting up a stall on the street near the bell tower when she accidentally met a young and beautiful woman, but her intelligence seemed to be slightly lacking. She is ten years older than Zhang Yonghong, and she also runs a small shoe-shine stall on the street, but the business seems rather deserted.
Perhaps out of pity, Zhang Yonghong often gave her some help in life, and gradually, the emotional bond between the two gradually deepened.
Soon after, the woman revealed her heart to Zhang Yonghong: "I long to spend the rest of my life with you, I wonder if you can accept me?"
However, considering the intellectual disability of the other party, the combination of "all-round and intellectual disability" may complement each other and achieve a state of harmonious symbiosis.
So, in 2004, Zhang Yonghong married this beautiful but mentally retarded woman and officially entered the palace of marriage.
These remarks are undoubtedly a great affront to Zhang Yonghong's male dignity, and he is extremely angry about it. Although he understood that having offspring could lead to genetic diseases, he still had a glimmer of hope and decided to try to conceive a child with his wife.
In 2008, 35-year-old Zhang Yonghong finally welcomed his baby daughter. Looking at this healthy and lively daughter, he and his wife were full of joy. However, the joy only lasted for a short time.
Soon after, Zhang Yonghong accidentally noticed that his daughter's legs were swollen and her mood became abnormally fluctuating, and he was full of worries and immediately took his daughter to the hospital for a comprehensive examination.
Hearing this nightmarish news, Zhang Yonghong's tears flowed down like a downpour, recalling the many hardships he had experienced due to his disability, his heart was full of unspeakable worries and fears, and he felt extremely troubled by the uncertainty of his daughter's future fate.
In order to save his daughter's life, he resolutely made a difficult choice -- to give up everything he had in Xi'an, and to take his family thousands of miles to the capital Beijing to seek help from a famous doctor.
Faced with the sudden death of his wife, Zhang Yonghong suffered a heavy blow, and the trauma in his heart was undoubtedly huge, but he finally chose to let go. He knows that since he can't give her happiness, let her fly freely and pursue her new life.
Therefore, Zhang Yonghong devoted himself to the education and training of his daughter, and she was his only concern and hope.
With the increasing reputation, Zhang Yonghong won the high honors of "Arts and Crafts Artist" and "Champion Gold Medal Paper-cutting Craft Master" in 2017 and 2018 respectively.
This is undoubtedly the highest praise for his exquisite skills, and it also strengthens his persistent pursuit and firm determination for the cause of paper-cutting.
On the occasion of the honor, Zhang Yonghong also created his most proud masterpiece - the 8.5-meter-long and 70-centimeter-wide paper-cut scroll of "Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival".
This majestic masterpiece comes to life, with pavilions, graceful figures, and a colourful landscape of flora and fauna, with every stroke showcasing his exceptional scissor skills.
Zhang Yonghong had planned to auction it off at a high price, and the proceeds would be used to help more vulnerable people.
However, who would have thought that this precious art treasure would be murdered by thieves not long after. Zhang Yonghong regretted this, and reported the case many times but never found it. In fact, for him, this paper-cut scroll is not only the crystallization of art, but also a transcendence of the past poor years, and a silent testimony of his counterattack on life and regaining his dignity.
Its loss and recovery have become an eternal scar in Zhang Yonghong's heart.
Just when everyone thought that Zhang Yonghong's life was about to enter the peak of glory, the sudden new crown epidemic in 2020 brought a heavy blow to his paper-cutting career. Due to the impact of the epidemic, a large number of tourists could not come to visit as usual, and his business suffered an unprecedented blow.
At the most difficult moment of his life, Mr. Zhang Yonghong was only able to sell a paper-cut work worth a measly 120 yuan a month! However, in the face of the high rent and daily expenses in life, he never chose to give up or be discouraged.
On the contrary, he firmly practiced the deep care that he had accumulated in his heart for a long time, and resolutely founded a public welfare team called "Disabled Mutual Aid Group", which spared no effort to provide food and temporary shelter for the homeless and disadvantaged.
When some people questioned his actions, and even ridiculed him for being too ignorant to "even solve his own food and clothing problems, and even care about others", Mr. Zhang Yonghong always responded in a calm and powerful tone: "Only those who have experienced the baptism of wind and rain can deeply understand the great significance of sheltering others from the wind and rain."
"I have received selfless assistance from strangers in the most difficult times, and now that I have the ability to give back to society, I should not hesitate to make the same choice. Mr. Zhang Yonghong said sincerely.
In fact, Mr. Zhang Yonghong's investment in public welfare and charity is not just a spur of the moment during the epidemic. Over the years, he has been quietly supporting those poor students and sick children behind the scenes, and using his meager strength to provide them with scholarships and medical expenses.
Whenever he sees the renewed hope and the happy smiles on the faces of those beneficiaries, Mr. Zhang Yonghong will feel an unprecedented sense of accomplishment and happiness in his heart.
"Despite my physical disability, I have a unique skill – paper-cutting, which is not just what I do for a living, but what I have been passionate about all my life.
The reason why I chose to stick to this career is because it has long been an indispensable and important part of my life," Mr. Zhang Yonghong candidly expressed his belief.
Even though life has fallen into unprecedented difficulties and the road ahead is becoming more and more rugged and bumpy, Mr. Zhang Yonghong's persistent pursuit and perseverance in the paper-cutting industry have never wavered.
In his heart, paper-cutting is no longer just a skill, but a powerful spiritual force to achieve self-transcendence and regain dignity.
Even though life has fallen into an unprecedented predicament, Zhang Yonghong's enthusiasm and persistent pursuit of paper-cutting, as well as his perseverance and tenacious spiritual strength, have never wavered!
Over the years, he has always adhered to the firm belief of "choosing one thing for a lifetime", and has gone all out to promote the long-standing folk skill of paper-cutting, and will never let himself give up halfway. It is this endless love and persistence for art that has enabled him to rise from the trough of life again and again and climb to new heights.
Diagnosed with brittle bone disease and dwarfism since childhood, Zhang Yonghong's life seems destined to be shrouded in the haze of disability. However, he never bowed to fate. Under the influence of his parents and grandmother, he was deeply fascinated by the art of paper-cutting from an early age, and he devoted himself to it.
At the age of 18, he won the Youth Paper-cutting Competition, and since then he has been ambitious and eager to leave his hometown and step into the wider world. Although he encountered countless difficulties in Taiyuan and even fell into a desperate situation for a time, he never gave up his dream.
After returning to his hometown, he deeply reflected on his life and strengthened his determination to devote himself to the paper-cutting business.
During the establishment of a paper-cutting training class in Xi'an, he met his beautiful but intellectually disabled wife, who originally thought that he would finally usher in the dawn of happiness. Unexpectedly, after his daughter was born, he also suffered from brittle bone disease, and for the sake of her health, he resolutely gave up everything and crossed the ocean to Beijing.
The cruel reality is that his wife eventually left him and chose to marry a beggar.
However, all these setbacks were unable to knock Zhang Yonghong down. He endured everything alone and devoted all his efforts to the education and training of his daughter. Although the scale of the paper-cutting shop in Nanluoguxiang is small, the business is extremely hot and attracts many tourists to visit, which is undoubtedly the best affirmation of his persistent pursuit.
He has won the honorary titles of "Arts and Crafts Artist" and "Gold Medal Paper-cutting Master", which is a vivid embodiment of his multiplied value.
Unfortunately, his 8.5-meter-long scroll "Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival" was stolen shortly after winning the award, which was undoubtedly a heavy blow to his life's work. However, the new crown epidemic has brought a greater impact on his career, and his life was once in a desperate situation.
In the face of such blows, Zhang Yonghong never lost confidence. On the contrary, with the belief that "true love can only be understood after going through ups and downs", he founded a mutual aid organization for the disabled to repay the society with practical actions.
After years of vicissitudes, he has always selflessly supported those poor students and sick children, just to witness their happy smiles of hope again!
"Despite my disability, I still have a unique skill. The art of paper-cutting has become an integral part of my life. I will do my best to pass on and carry forward this traditional skill.
This is Zhang Yonghong's life creed, it is this perseverance and spiritual strength that inspires him to move forward bravely, even if he falls in the face of life's difficulties, he can get up again, and finally achieve the biggest counterattack of the disabled.