Photos: Xinhua

An 11-year-old photo of a determined young mother has gone viral – for the second time – on the Chinese internet before Spring Festival.

The photo was taken by a journalist at a train station in the Jiangxi Province capital city of Nanchang on January 30, 2010, the first day of the Chinese lunar new year.

In the picture, the woman carries a sleeping baby and a determined countenance under the yoke of a massive backpack.

The mother has since been identified as Bamuyubumu and her hometown is the tiny village of Taoyuan in Wayan Township, Yuexi County of the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province.

“Living in a rainproof house was my childhood dream,” said Bamuyubumu, now 32.

Bamuyubumu, a member of the Yi ethnic minority, talks to the reporter with a baby on her back, much like the photo of 11 years earlier that went viral.

Behind Bamuyubumu today stands a new reinforced concrete house with sturdy doors and windows.

Extreme suffering

More than a decade ago when the famous photo was taken, Taoyuan was a region of deep poverty where water leaks and electricity shortages were daily issues.

Bamuyubumu remembered dark, rainy nights when she and her husband took turns holding the sleeping baby.

In 2009 when her second daughter was born, Bamuyubumu elected to take the baby with her to work in the big city.

They migrated to Nanchang where Bamuyubumu worked in a brickyard for about 500-600 yuan a month.

But the daughter fell ill and Bamuyubumu determined they must return to her hometown hospital.

“The photo was taken as I brought my daughter back home,” Bamuyubumu said.

The daughter died less than half a year after returning.

Worse was to come.

In 2011, Bamuyubumu’s third child died 10 days after birth.

"At that time, Taoyuan Village had poor infrastructure, with only a dirt road leading to the outside world and people travelling by horse and cart,” says Bamuyubumu.

“It was common for pregnant women to give birth at home and it was difficult for sick children to get timely treatment because of the poor medical conditions."

Rebuilding hope

Taoyuan villagers including Bamuyubumu and her husband have been the recipients of state poverty alleviation measures that involve planting cash crops such as tobacco and fruit.

The family’s 4,000 square meters of fields have been repurposed to grow tobacco.

From 5,000-6,000 yuan ($700-$900) in the first year, the family made an annual income of 100,000 yuan ($15,490) in 2020, including 30,000 yuan ($4,647 dollar) fixed income and 70,000 yuan ($10,843) from household production and operations.

In 2018, a road was built and the village was connected to electricity, communications and running water. Villagers could at last go easily to school, see a doctor or communicate with the outside world.

Since 2013, the family has received extra financial support for healthcare and education. Bamuyubumu has had three more children, all delivered free of charge at the county hospital.

Bamuyubumu and her husband work outside the village during the slack season to boost the family income.

“I hope my children can work hard and live in peace and harmony,” she said, sporting a familiar smile.

“No matter how hard life is, we must keep going.”

Bamuyubumu’s life story is but one of nearly 100 million uplifted by an eight-year nationwide campaign to eliminate extreme poverty from China.