Inner Mongolia herdswoman makes list of national titles of honor

As this year is the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to centralize the Medal of the Republic and national titles of honor for the first time to commend exemplary figures that have made outstanding contributions to the development of the People's Republic of China.

After a rigorous evaluation process, eight people were nominated for National Medals and 28 people were nominated for National Honorary Titles. One of those is a herdswoman from North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region who took in orphans abandoned during food shortages and raised them.

On Aug 27, it was announced that the woman, Duguimaa, was nominated for national titles of honor, China's highest national honor, for raising 28 Shanghaiorphans on her own, starting in 1961. Duguimaa, who belongs to the Mongolian ethnic group, is a senior herdswoman born in 1942 and a member of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

In the early 1960s, China suffered from natural disasters for three consecutive years, resulting in food shortages throughout the country. In the rural, disaster-stricken areas around East China's Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, many families chose to abandon their young children in large cities, such as Shanghai. The Shanghai orphanage took in many abandoned babies.

However, orphans often suffer from malnutrition and illness, sometimes resulting in death. Eventually, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to take all orphans from Shanghai to Inner Mongolia to be raised by herders.

As a member of the CPC, the unmarried Duguimaa decided on her own at the age of 19 to raise 28 orphans after receiving some some simple parenting training. Nowadays, she and one of her daughters live an easy life together in their old age.

Chen Jianwei contributed to the story.