With just hours left to live, 83-year-old Yang Zhenya performs delicate acupuncture on his sick daughter. Photo: Weibo
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https://scmp.com/news/people-culture/article/3205530/touch-angel-dying-chinese-folk-doctor-granted-final-wish-perform-acupuncture-sick-daughter-just People & Culture
Touch of an angel: dying Chinese folk doctor granted final wish to perform acupuncture on sick daughter just hours before passing away
- Cancer-stricken 83-year-old was weak but manages to treat tearful Covid-hit daughter with acupuncture needles just four hours before he died
- Outpouring of emotion on Chinese social media as observers hail parental love as the ‘most selfless’ kind
An 83-year-old folk doctor in China has reduced many to tears online after he was granted his final wish to perform acupuncture on his sick daughter just four hours before his death. Photo: SCMP Composite
The story of an elderly Chinese man who was granted the final wish of performing acupuncture on his sick daughter just hours before he died has touched countless people on mainland social media.
What became a viral Douyin video of the event was posted by a granddaughter of 83-year-old acupuncturist, Yang Zhenya. It was filmed on December 28 just hours before he died.
Despite suffering from weakness, the cancer-stricken and bedridden old man managed to insert the treatment needles into his daughter’s hand properly.
Yang had become critically ill hours earlier after catching Covid-19.
Knowing he was dying, the moment he felt a little better and less weak, he insisted on treating his youngest daughter who was also infected with Covid, reported the Bailu Video.
Aware of the situation, the woman could not stop crying while being treated. She agreed to receive the treatment to give her a final, lasting memory of him. The old man died four hours later.
Not wanting his children to see him in pain, suffering Yang covered half of his face with a quilt before he passed away, Wang, his granddaughter, said in her post.
The video was shared by several media outlets in China and moved many online to tears.
“The most selfless love in the world is a parent’s love. They always give everything without expecting anything in return,” said one comment on Douyin.
Elderly Yang spent decades treating an array of ailments with his acupuncture skills. Photo: Weibo
“As long as I’m alive, you’ll always be a child,” another person said, putting himself in the old man’s shoes.
A third person was commenting on the acupuncturist’s professionalism: “He remained professional until the last moments of his life.”
Yang was a folk acupuncturist in northern China’s Shanxi province for 60 years, and was reported by local newspapers to have effectively treated paralysis and polio.
Yang was also considered the family acupuncturist, treating his children and grandchildren anytime they became ill.
He raised his children on his own after his wife died at a young age, and also looked after his grandchildren while their parents were busy at work.
In his final moments, Yang, in tears, told his family that he wished he had more time to spend with them.
“His children were all grandpa thought about,” his granddaughter Wang told the Bailu Video.