Mother's love that keeps on growing

On Nov 21, her story was adapted again by Chinese director Tian Qinxin in an episode of China in Stories, a CCTV variety show, which combines stage plays and talk shows to publicize well-known stories of the country's growth and people who made outstanding contributions to the country's development. Featuring actress Guan Xiaotong playing the role Duguimaa, the TV show has received positive feedback from the audiences and touched more people with Duguimaa's story.

"I watched the TV show at home and I felt very honored," says Duguimaa. "People still remember and care about the children today. I am very happy."

In the early 1960s, China was suffering from natural disasters and food shortages. Many children from the eastern provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangsu lost their homes and became orphans. The then-premier Zhou Enlai sought assistance from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region to get food for the orphans. Ulanhu, then the government director of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, offered to take care of the children. By 1963, some 3,000 orphans were sent to Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

Duguimaa volunteered to work at the nursery, which changed her life forever. The 28 children, who were sent to Siziwang Banner, aged from less than 1 year old to 5 years old. Recalling her days of raising the orphans, Duguimaa says that she had no experience of raising children but she learned to become a mother bit by bit. Living in a Mongolian yurt, she stayed awake when the children cried at night. She took the children to the hospital by horse when they got sick.

"When they played outside, they were like little sheep, running around on the grasslands," she recalls. "Though life was tough then, it was a pleasurable struggle. When they smiled and called me mother, I was very happy. I just wanted to take care of the children.

"The children grew up on the grasslands just like us and though they were born far from Inner Mongolia, they got used to their lives here and love the local music and culture," she adds.

The majority of the orphans were later adopted by local Mongolian families and still live there.