A brave Chinese woman who lost the baby she was carrying when her husband pushed her off a cliff in Thailand four years ago can now stand and walk by herself.
The ordeal of Wang Nuannuan – the woman’s alias on social media platform Douyin – gripped the whole of China after she was pushed off a 34-metre-high cliff by her husband, Yu Xiaodong, at a tourist spot in Thailand in June 2019.
The 35 year-old miraculously survived but the baby she had been carrying for three months at the time of the horror did not.
Wang suffered 17 bone fractures as a result of the fall and has endured more than 100 steel nails being inserted into her body plus more than 200 stitches.
She has undergone multiple rounds of surgery and intensive rehabilitation treatment.
At the beginning of this year, Wang was able to stand and walk by herself, without the assistance of a stick, the Beijing Youth Daily reported.
“All those difficulties which couldn’t kill me will only make me stronger,” she was quoted as saying.
Wang said she had thought of giving up the painful rehabilitation treatment many times, but eventually found the strength to carry on.
“If I give up, will my body become better? Will my mental status become better? No. So I have to hold back my tears and bear all the hardships with the firm goal of becoming a better person,” Wang said.
“If I didn’t do the rehabilitation, I would be confined to bed and a wheelchair forever,” she said.
A former businesswoman trading goods between China and Thailand, Wang met Yu in 2017 and they got married two months later.
She said Yu intended to kill her and wanted to inherit the tens of millions of yuan (several million US dollars) assets she owned.
During their marriage, the man remained jobless and often pressured her for money to pay for his gambling debts, said Wang.
“The period from being pushed off that cliff to the moment I could stand up has been the darkest time in my life,” recalled Wang.
“He destroyed my world. He betrayed me. I lost my baby. I lost my health. My career was also jeopardised. My plan for future life was also gone. My whole life was turned into debris.”
Yu was jailed for life in 2020 by a Thai court. A first appeal saw his term reduced to 10 years, a decision Wang is now appealing herself.
She now lives in Nanjing in China’s eastern Jiangsu province and tried to sell products via live-streaming on social media platforms in 2021. However, her injuries forced her to give up the heavy workload.
Wang told of her ordeal on Douyin and garnered tens of thousands of likes.
“Many people left messages for me. Some were in various degrees of adversity and felt at a loss. They said after seeing my videos, they felt encouraged because what I endured is harder than their problems but I did not bow to fate,” said Wang.
“I will reply to them and encourage them. This is the purpose of sharing my story,” she said.
“It’s good news that you can stand up. I’ve been worried about you. Your life will get better and better,” one person said on Douyin.
“What a strong woman! She has blessings from God,” another wrote.
Another online observer said: “That man is not a husband, but a devil. He must receive the most severe punishment.”
