Li Xi, 20, who suffers from severe visual impairment, works as a masseur in Beijing's Chaoyang district.
Li comes from a remote village in Xishui county, Southwest China’s Guizhou province. He dreams that one day he can make enough money to pay his own medical expenses and see the light again.
Li was born into a poor family. He was the youngest of four children. His childhood was full of misfortune. He got polio at age three and became amblyopic two years later. Even more unfortunate, he lost his eyesight and had to drop out of school after toxic glue splashed into his eyes by accident. The young boy was left severely disabled because his family was too poor to afford immediate treatment.
Although Li did not finish primary school, he never thought of giving up on life. Instead, he wanted to study like a normal person and was eager to be successful.
He began to work at 14 to reduce the burden on his family. Li came to Beijing and learned massage techniques in a training school when he was 17.
Through several years of hard work, Li has become the backbone of the massage shop. This brave man is gradually approaching his dream of seeing the light.