No holidays, festive days, or weekends for Liu. In the evening, she read and studied medicine. Through the years, she took other training courses and exams. She watched little TV because, she said, due to aging, her sight has declined. However, she did not wear glasses. Is it vanity? Liu is a very beautiful woman who didn't show her age; she wore a row of pearls and earrings with her white uniform. Questioned about her own health, she answered that she felt pain in her renal area and arthritis in her knees; would this be the consequence of her high heels? She ate little and irregularly, she admitted, which might have been the cause of her stomach problems. However, she did not look after herself nor would she consult specialists.

Lisa(M) and the couple [Foreign Languages Press]

For four decades, Liu has devoted herself to her patients. "She doesn't know the difference between day and night when it comes to service," said Wu Zhengyi, her husband. Patients who have no money? She doesn't care. It is free for the poor. A "thank you" is enough for Liu, and the fact that people rely on her fills her heart with satisfaction. Even more, she has already spent 35,000 yuan on her patients and 6,000 to help needy students pursue their studies.

Without a diploma in medicine, Liu Yulian is not authorized to perform all the medical procedures. However, could she specialize in gynaecology, geriatrics, and pediatry at the same time? When a case exceeds her abilities, she sends the patient to consult at Hami Hospital.

"Do you practice preventive medicine?" I asked. She did not seem to understand my question. I specified that health starts with personal hygiene.

"Yes," she said, "I tell people to take care of cleanliness."

In the locality, the major affliction for a long time was goitre. At 40, the locals started to exhibit symptoms. Liu didn't really research it, but she asked herself what could be the cause of so many incidences, and found an iodine deficiency. She thus advised the villagers to consume iodized salt. I know that, in certain places, the local government provides iodized salt. Liu said that the Erpu inhabitants buy it themselves on the market. The disease regressed significantly and is almost eradicated.

Liu married Wu Zhengyi in 1969, "perhaps," said Wu, who forgot the year, while the woman corrects him: 1967. The couple live "together" very little, although they share the same roof. Even the meals are seldom eaten together. In the morning, Liu swallows the breakfast her husband prepares and leaves immediately for work. Wu washes the dishes and cleans up before leaving to do his farmer's work. He has 14 mu (15 mu = 1 ha) of land dispersed in three places, on which he cultivates mostly cotton. Behind the house, a kitchen garden is enough for the couple's needs. When he goes back home, Wu finds neither woman nor dinner. He starts to cook and waits for Liu. Sometimes he suggests that she give up her work, which does not bring anything back into the home and to stay at home. Not only could he provide for their needs but with two people working the land, they could cultivate more land and raise more animals.

A few years ago, at Spring Festival time – the Lunar New Year and the most important festival of the year for the Chinese – Wu found the house empty. People came from everywhere to offer their wishes, but Liu was invisible. Wu waited for his wife for so long that, in the end, he dined alone. When she finally returned, he was not in a mood to welcome her and said: "Why don't you take your belongings and move to the medical station?" Touched by his outburst of emotion, Liu decided to make an effort. One evening, she returned early and they both prepared the meal together. "Like a real family," remembered Wu, patiently. "She is like that, who could change her?" he smiled, shaking his head.

In such a situation, what is the meaning of marriage? I asked Liu if, at the time she married, she intended to have a "real" family, with children. She admitted that she never thought about it. She and her husband grew up together. She was a very pretty girl, and Liu's family was financially comfortable. Her parents arranged the marriage and gave her to Wu.