Huang Fengying, 45, has spent most of her life on a boat on Lake Doushui, a reservoir in east China’ s Jiangxi Province.

She usually gets up at 4am, prepares breakfast for her daughter, then takes her to the elementary school on the other side of the reservoir, a 40-minute cruise.

Huang spends the rest of the day on the boat with her husband, fishing. If they are lucky, they catch a dozen or so fish, and make about 20 yuan (US$3.20) a day.

The small boat is extremely cold in winter and very hot in summer. It is nothing more than a wooden floor covered with bamboo and a bark roof, equipped with a few simple household items. The roof leaks when it rains and the boat is always very damp. Both Huang and her husband Liang Xuerwu, also 45, suffer from arthritis and rheumatism.

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