'Life without dreams is scarier': Disabled Chinese woman makes $940k a year raising cattle

Where there's a will, there's a way.

Determined to not let her disability get in the way of life, a partially-paralysed Chinese woman established a cattle farm — which just raked in an annual income of five million yuan (S$940,000), Star News reported last Saturday (July 1).

The woman, Pan Yuanxiang (transliteration), hails from Yibin in Sichuan province, southwestern China.

An act of medical negligence when three-year-old Pan was receiving treatment for a high fever left her paralysed from the waist down, Chinese media reported. 

Her inability to walk meant that she could only move around by crawling on all fours.

Pan faced repeated job rejections after finishing vocational high school aged 23, and at one point was forced to beg on the streets, reported South China Morning Post, citing The Paper.

Her decision to start a cattle-breeding business in 2013 was initially met with scepticism from people due to her two previous business ventures which fell through.

Pan previously had a duck farm which closed due to an avian flu outbreak and another venture that did not meet expected sales, according to South China Morning Post.

In a 2021 interview with Pear Video, Pan said that she was faced with doubts from sceptics who questioned if she was even tall enough to feed the cows, let alone raise them.

"But it doesn't matter," Pan proclaimed. "I want to let my actions show them that I can do it."

Upon realising that the cattle breeding industry was largely dominated by established traders, Pan decided to focus her business on selling fresh beef — a move that evidently brought home the bacon.

Today, her business is thriving, having just reported an annual income of five million yuan. Her success has also inspired others with disabilities to work in the cattle industry.

"Disability is not scary, what is truly scary is living without dreams," Pan said in the recent interview with Star News.

"I won't rely on waiting for and begging others to solve my problems because I don't see myself as a disabled person. I am just a normal person," Pan explained.

"Wherever you get wet, you just dry there, then keep moving forward."

Netizens were impressed with Pan's tenacity and courage, professing their admiration and respect for her.

"What a strong woman! Someone who firmly seizes fate by the throat. Life will never defeat those who never give up!" wrote one netizen.

Another remarked: "Hard work, sincerity, intelligence, and willpower has let her overcome her physical disability to find value in life. Respect!"

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lim.kewei@asiaone.com