Mother: Wanted to Travel Across the Country but Couldn’t Due to Motion Sickness
Daughter: Retired Teacher, Takes Mother on Trip to Repay Her Kindness
To fulfill her mother’s dream of traveling, Xie Shuhua, a 63-year-old retired female teacher from Xuzhou, Jiangsu, pulled her 90-year-old mother Xu Meirong in a specially made hand-pulled cart, walking thousands of miles this year to visit scenic spots across the country and show filial piety. They set off from Beijing on September 17th, traveled south for over three months, and arrived in Guangzhou yesterday, where they visited Furongzhang in Huadu and Prince Mountain. They plan to continue southward to Hainan next, so that the elderly woman can see the sea.
“Pulling a cart on foot to take my elderly mother on a trip—am I asking for trouble? Why not just take a vehicle?” Faced with others’ confusion, 63-year-old Xie Shuhua explained to reporters that she is a retired teacher from a well-off family. Her two sons are locally known private entrepreneurs, and the family owns six private cars. She had wanted to drive her mother around, as her mother had worked hard all her life and spent most days in the kitchen, but her mother suffers from severe motion sickness, which had prevented any trips.
Later, Xie Shuhua learned about the deeds of Wang Kai and Wang Rui, known as two of “China’s Top Ten Filial Sons,” who pulled carts to take their mother on a journey. She reached out to Wang Rui to learn from him and decided to do the same—to take her own mother on a trip to let her see the beautiful landscapes of their homeland in her lifetime.
Special-Made “Gratitude Cart” Travels the Country
In April of this year, she started from Shanghai, pulling her mother and arriving in Beijing in June, covering 4,000 li (approximately 2,000 kilometers). After a period of rest, on September 17th this year, they set off again from Beijing heading south. It took them three months to reach Guangzhou, having now covered approximately 7,000 li.
“Although we’ve been living rough along the way, we’re extremely happy. Since we started this journey, my mother has been in especially high spirits. I’ve never seen her this joyful in her entire life—that’s the greatest satisfaction for me. Giving her money means nothing compared to seeing her smile.” Xie Shuhua said that in order to fulfill her mother’s wish to see the sea, she will keep pulling her all the way to Hainan.
Yesterday at the Furongzhang Resort in Huadu, Guangzhou, reporters saw the “Gratitude Cart,” a special hand-pulled “RV” used by the mother-daughter duo. This two-wheeled red-roofed cart looks like a mobile tent, measuring about 2 meters in length and height, and 1.45 meters in width. The cart body is inscribed with phrases like “Practicing Filial Piety Across the Land, Spreading Warmth to Thousands of Homes.”
According to Xie Shuhua, the cart weighs around 50 kilograms, and inside there’s space for sleeping, along with 10 quilts, three mattresses, a woolen blanket, plus daily necessities such as thermoses, instant noodles, her mother’s milk powder, cereal, and a portable toilet. “When my mom is inside, the cart weighs around 250 kilograms. It’s still relatively easy to pull on flat ground. But it becomes strenuous in mountainous areas.”
On the journey from Beijing southward to Guangzhou, the rugged roads of Guangdong’s Nanling Mountains were the toughest part for Xie Shuhua. “We spent a week walking those 180 kilometers of mountain paths. The cart kept creaking, and I was genuinely worried it might break down. I also feared my mother wouldn’t be able to endure the harsh conditions.”
“When the road conditions were good, I once managed to pull the cart with my mother and cover up to 75 kilometers in a day. Usually, we walk between 50 to 60 kilometers daily.” Xie Shuhua told reporters, “We usually start at 5 a.m., walking for over ten hours a day. The earliest we’ve started was 2:30 a.m. At night, we sometimes sleep in the cart or stay at nearby small hotels for the convenience of washing up.”
Daughter’s Fatty Liver Disappeared
In an interview with our reporter, both mother and daughter were all smiles. The 90-year-old Grandma Xu Meirong, with a kind expression, chatted happily with the reporter, saying, “The weather in Guangzhou is so nice—it’s warm. There are still lots of green trees and flowers here in winter, unlike the north.”
Regarding the experience of being taken on a trip by her daughter, the elderly woman told the reporter, “Along the way, we visited Shaolin Temple, Yueyang Tower, walked and looked around—the scenery was wonderful. It’s just tough on the child. I feel sorry for my daughter for walking so much, but seeing her get healthier the more she walks makes me happy too!”
As for pulling her mother on a cart across the country, Xie Shuhua herself finds joy in it. According to her, after pulling the human-powered “RV” and walking tens of thousands of miles with her mother, her previous conditions—including rheumatoid arthritis, moderate fatty liver, and tenosynovitis—which doctors couldn’t cure, miraculously disappeared. “Look at me now—I’m free of any health issues. My skin has a bronze tint, I’m healthier than before, I’ve lost over 10 kilograms, and I feel uncomfortable if I don’t walk for even three days.”
Daughter: Filial Piety Starts with the Feet
“My biggest wish right now is to make my mother happy during the limited time she has left, leaving no regrets. As long as my health allows, I’ll take her even farther.”
“If it weren’t for my mom, I wouldn’t be where I am today.” Xie Shuhua said that true filial piety lies in action, in the steps you take. She told reporters that her mother had a very hard life—she begged for food at age 13 and got married at 15. In 1958, during a famine in Feng County, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, where the family was already struggling in poverty, her mother Xu Meirong insisted on sending her eldest daughter, Xie Shuhua, to school. That year, Xie Shuhua was eight years old. Her mother took her begging while also supporting her education. Out of over 200 girls in the village around Xie Shuhua’s age, she was the only one who went to school and later got into university, becoming the first college student in the village. Speaking of the past, Xie Shuhua couldn’t hold back her tears.
“Now our family is doing well—we have a home, vehicles, and money to spend—but my mother worked hard to raise us her whole life and never got to travel far. I want to fulfill her wish and show her the world.” Xie Shuhua told our reporter.
Xie Shuhua said that when they arrived on foot in Shijiazhuang, the director of a local hospital gave them free health checkups. “My mother’s heart and bone density are actually better than mine.”
Xie Shuhua expressed hope that her experience could encourage more young people to treat their parents with kindness. “Along the way, we’ve earned the respect of some people in society. We’d like to express our gratitude to everyone who has helped us.” Reporter: Li Yan