Liu Yunxia during the shooting of her show, Yezi's Arranged Marriage, based on her own life.
Poverty made 36-year-old farmer Liu Yunxia drop out of school and accept an arranged marriage. But she never stopped pursuing her dream. She changed her life, and is now trying to tell her story to all.
Liu, from Zhuanglang county in northwest China's Gansu province, is now busy shooting a TV drama — Yezi's Arranged Marriage — based on her life story.
Her life is representative of the hardship faced by the villagers in what is known as "Sanxi," which refers to three places with the character "xi," meaning "west" — Xihaigu, Dingxi and Hexi. Sanxi is among the driest and least-developed regions in China.
At first, Liu resented her husband and the arranged marriage that brought him to her. She was engaged at the age of nine; her fiance was four years older than her, and illiterate. In the 10 years following the engagement, they had hardly spoken to one another.
Liu loved studying; she was a top student and particularly good at writing in primary school. But when she entered junior high, her would-be mother-in-law came to Liu's family and repeatedly opposed her attending school. She feared that if Liu entered university, the arranged marriage would not be honored.
Her family lived in poverty, often borrowing money for her schooling. While in middle school, her father broke several ribs while repairing a terrace field. Her mother was also in poor health, and couldn't provide the support he needed.
Liu had to drop out of school to take care of her family. At 16, she went to work for one year. She was once a family assistant in Lanzhou, capital of Gansu province, and then worked at a clothing factory in Hohhot, capital of north China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region.
When she came back to her hometown, she became even more resentful of her arranged marriage. But her family had used up the 800-yuan (US$125) betrothal gifts given by her fiance's family. Her father said to her, that because her elder brother had not married, breaking her engagement would tarnish the family's reputation and make it impossible for him to find a wife.
Liu's elder brother is nine years older than her and has worked in a brick factory since the age of 14, to support the family. Liu could not hold back her tears when she remembered her brother buying sweets for her and younger brother, while he only ate cold potatoes. For the sake of her elder brother, Liu agreed to marry.
On the day of wedding, she refused to wear red attire and did not wear flowers in her hair. She felt depressed, thinking her future would be bland and hopeless.
The newlyweds were victims of poverty as well — they even borrowed oil for cooking. One year later, Liu gave birth. To support the family, she opened a tailoring shop, but it failed. Then she pulled boiled corn to bigger towns, hoping to sell it. The corn was heavy. Sometimes she tumbled and injured herself. During those years, the couple ignored each other. Her husband always turned a blind eye to her injuries or illnesses and always went gambling. He abused her.
But as time went by, Liu's life started to change. Helped in part by social welfare policies, Liu tried planting scallions and alfalfa, and raised rabbits, sheep and cattle. Her family eventually became better off.
The turning point occurred in 2000, when Liu got meningitis. She lost consciousness for an entire day. When she woke up, she saw her husband's tearful eyes. She had never seen him cry before. Her husband realized the importance she had in his life. Since then, her husband has offered her care and support.
Since childhood, Liu dreamed of writing and being an actress. In 2008, she watched a TV documentary about the children of migrant workers, directed by a woman farmer whose only education was two years at primary school. Liu was inspired, and started writing a script. Her husband bought a computer for her, which at first she didn't even know how to turn on.
During the daytime, she planted crops. After her child was put to sleep at night, she wrote. In 2010, she almost finished her 100,000-word first draft, titled Yezi's Arranged Marriage. Most of the story is based on her own life.
Then harvest season came and she, together with her family, reaped wheat for two months; she didn't touch the computer during the time. Two months later, she couldn't access her script on the computer as its hard drive had been wrecked by the dampness in the house. She had to rewrite the script based on memory.
While rewriting, she started to select actors and actresses in the village for her TV drama. Her husband spent about 100,000 yuan (US$15,700) to buy equipment, such as video cameras and hard drives.
The cameraman is a farmer in his fifties. Liu also has two deputy directors: one is head of the village's local opera troupe, the other a taxi driver. Actors and actress are fellow villagers. She is not able to pay her team, but gives them free meals. A young woman in the village agreed to act the heroine, but gave up halfway through due to strong opposition from her family. Since then, Liu has played the role herself.
The homemade drama moved her fellow villagers. They thought it reflected the real life very well and suggested Liu give the drama a happy ending.
Hoping the drama could be broadcast on TV someday, she also sent the script to Gansu provincial radio, film and TV bureau, asking experts to review and adapt it.
She does not mind, she said, if someday professional crews come to perform her story.
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