In the locality, the major affliction for a long time was goitre. At 40, the locals started to exhibit symptoms. Liu didn't really research it, but she asked herself what could be the cause of so many incidences, and found an iodine deficiency. She thus advised the villagers to consume iodized salt. I know that, in certain places, the local government provides iodized salt. Liu said that the Erpu inhabitants buy it themselves on the market. The disease regressed significantly and is almost eradicated.

Liu married Wu Zhengyi in 1969, "perhaps," said Wu, who forgot the year, while the woman corrects him: 1967. The couple live "together" very little, although they share the same roof. Even the meals are seldom eaten together. In the morning, Liu swallows the breakfast her husband prepares and leaves immediately for work. Wu washes the dishes and cleans up before leaving to do his farmer's work. He has 14 mu (15 mu = 1 ha) of land dispersed in three places, on which he cultivates mostly cotton. Behind the house, a kitchen garden is enough for the couple's needs. When he goes back home, Wu finds neither woman nor dinner. He starts to cook and waits for Liu. Sometimes he suggests that she give up her work, which does not bring anything back into the home and to stay at home. Not only could he provide for their needs but with two people working the land, they could cultivate more land and raise more animals.

A few years ago, at Spring Festival time – the Lunar New Year and the most important festival of the year for the Chinese – Wu found the house empty. People came from everywhere to offer their wishes, but Liu was invisible. Wu waited for his wife for so long that, in the end, he dined alone. When she finally returned, he was not in a mood to welcome her and said: "Why don't you take your belongings and move to the medical station?" Touched by his outburst of emotion, Liu decided to make an effort. One evening, she returned early and they both prepared the meal together. "Like a real family," remembered Wu, patiently. "She is like that, who could change her?" he smiled, shaking his head.

In such a situation, what is the meaning of marriage? I asked Liu if, at the time she married, she intended to have a "real" family, with children. She admitted that she never thought about it. She and her husband grew up together. She was a very pretty girl, and Liu's family was financially comfortable. Her parents arranged the marriage and gave her to Wu.

On December 16, 1969, Liu, then eight months pregnant, received patients until late afternoon despite strong abdominal pains. At 22:00 that evening, she gave birth to her first daughter who lived for only half an hour. Instead of taking the rest necessary to her own health, Liu returned to work 10 days later. She was needed! A second pregnancy occurred, then a third, ending in early miscarriages or death of the baby shortly afterwards. A baby girl lived 10 months. Finally, she had triplets: three girls who survived only a few days, said Liu, adding with tears in her eyes, "I gave birth to seven children and only my son is still alive." While Liu still had milk following the birth of her triplets, a girl was born to a Hui family and the parents – too poor – had to give the baby away. Liu's mother-in-law sought the child and brought her to her daughter-in-law, who adopted her. Ethnically speaking, Hui people are Islamic-Han. When Xiao Ying reached three years of age, Liu Yulian got pregnant again. That time, things were fine.

Who raised her children as she and her husband were very busy and had no assistance? Liu said that after having fed her daughter and son their breakfast and having made them relieve themselves, she lay them down on the low table, which was on the kang, and tied them to prevent them from falling or running outside. From time to time, she would return home to check whether things were normal.

Despite multiple miscarriages, Liu continued to work more than was reasonable. Only "her" patients mattered. She rarely saw her father and mother, two sisters, and two brothers; there was no time for them because her village required her. One day in October 1986, her younger sister came to tell her that their mother felt bad, very bad. Liu Yulian went to see her mother, but her treatment had no effect. She said to her sister that the next day she would take their mother to Hami Hospital for a check up. However, the next morning she suddenly remembered that she had to give an injection to a child. Liu waited, but the patient didn't show up. However, other patients did, which made her completely forget her mother who was still waiting. Her sister reprimanded her, "Our father has already died; do you want us to live without a mother now?" Liu Yulian was deeply moved. She replied that she had to look after a child first and that she would see her mother immediately after. But five days passed before she found time to go to the hospital, where she was then told that her mother had terminal stomach cancer. The mother died one month later. Liu was sorry, but what would have happened to her patients if she had not looked after them?

On May 14, 2007, a long interview of Liu Yulian appeared in the Hami Journal. The journalists had requested the impressions of Liu's family on her attitude and behavior. Her adoptive daughter said that her mother had "never" been free. In spring 2000, Xiao Ying gave birth to a girl. The grandmother saw her granddaughter 10 times up till the interview. At the medical station where her mother works, seeing the promiscuity and misery, Xiao Ying was nauseated. I must say that two years ago, a new clinic worthy of this name, large and clean, has been built. According to Liu's daughter, no one in the family approved of the life Liu carries out. Her son, a worker for an oil company, compared his mother with a clock that never stops. Liu's daughter-in-law underwent a caesarean four years ago; she spent 50 days in convalescence and her mother-in-law visited her only once for an hour or two. In four years, the grandson hasn't spent 10 days with his grandmother.

Four times the medical station has been robbed. Each time, Liu borrowed money from her family to put it back into operation as soon as possible. In 2001, her husband and his father bought a minibus they used as a shuttle between Erpu and Hami. The businesses continued till the fourth burglary: Liu immediately needed 16,000 yuan, which required selling the vehicle to refurnish the clinic.

After this interview at the clinic which was conducted while patients walked in and out, Liu was going home for lunch and invited me. With a half smile, I asked, "Aren't you a woman who doesn't cook?" She made a point of making me the honoured guest of the house and added, "I can cook when I want to." She lived in a mud house. I noticed that in Xinjiang, adobe was rare. A broad pergola threw a little shade in front of the door. The sun of Erpu was so dazzling that the eyes couldn't stay open. Inside, three large rooms were in perfect order. In the room where I was invited to enter was a huge kang. Liu's husband sliced watermelons and sweet melons for me. The juice of the fruits inevitably dripped on the beaten earth, which absorbed it. On the table the first grapes of the season and dried Hami jujubes soon arrived.

Liu became a member of the Party in 1986. As I looked at a certificate allotted to "Comrade Liu Yulian" by the Communist Party in June 2007, she deposited on the kang a suitcase containing at least 30 prizes and recognitions from various sources and levels.

As the last question, I asked Liu Yulian if she had any regret or a wish. She regretted not having been able to attend university. The eldest of five children, if she had continued to study, as her parents would have liked her to, money would not have been sufficient to send the younger ones to school. In the end, she preferred working so that each one could have his or her share. What she hoped most ardently that day was to always better her work so that Erpu progresses and that its inhabitants can have an easier and pleasant life.

(These Wonderful People of Xinjiang, Foreign Languages Press, 2008)