Dream concert puts spice in the life of Jilin centenarian
2016-06-20
Jiang Chunli is up there on stage singing, with a group of young people dancing around him, interrupted by a burst of applause from time to time. He's enjoying the dream concert, especially since he's been waiting for it a long, long time, after all – he's 101-year-old.
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Jiang is sitting among volunteers at the "101-year-old dream concert" for him, on the Changchun University of Chinese Medicine’s square, on June 16 [Photo by Wang Haofei/Xinhua] |
Jiang's life was similar to that of many other migrants way back then, when the Shandong native braved the journey to China's Northeast, to Jilin province in the early 1930s to seek his fortune in the black soil region. He settled in the city of Changchun and sold vegetables and cigarettes to eke out a living.
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Jiang singing a Xinjiang Uygur folk song. [Photo by Wang Haofei/Xinhua] |
Now, he has been living out his life in a Changchun nursing home, where volunteers, who found out about his condition, often come to visit with him especially since he has no family himself.
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| Volunteer handling the make-up for the 101-year-old singer before the performance. [Photo by Wang Haofei/Xinhua] |
Then one day they discovered that Jiang liked singing and had even dreamt of performing up on stage day, so they set out to plan the event, after which the 101-year-old performer commented, "I'm very very happy today. These kids really helped make my dream come true."
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Jiang singing an old song for the audience, on June 16. [Photo Wang Haofei/Xinhua] |