3) Stairway to Heaven

Posted on November 10, 2012 Updated on February 14, 2014

A true story of 1950s happened in Chongqing, China.  A 20-year old villager Liu Guojiang fell in love for a widow, Xu ZhaoQing who is 10years older than him.  In order to avoid gossips from other villagers, they eloped to Jiangjin, a town 1500metres above sea level, deep in the woods, build a home of their own.

Liu Guojiang  spent 50 years alone, chipping over 20 over chisels to carve 6000 over steps of stairway for his wife.  This extra ordinary kind gesture of love is to facilitate his wife daily ascending and descending from their mountain habitat.

They live off their life in the forest by picking wild walnuts, dates and have a few vegetable farms.  The couple raise 7 children with whatever they have and spent half a century living in the mountains.

In 2006, media make a shooting of the 6000 steps and couldn’t find a single moss on the stairway.  They discovered that Liu Guojiang clean up the moss daily so that his wife will not slip and fall along the steps.

Unfortunately, in 2007, the 72-year old Liu Guojiang died of cerebrovascular disease.  The sudden death left his wife, Xu Zhaoqing devastated and despondent.  Due to her failing health, one of her son relocated her from the mountains.  She remained forlorn and passed on few days ago at the age of 87.

Xu Zhaoqing left a note before her death that she wanted to be buried next to her beloved husband, as she wish to continue walking hand in hand with her husband on their Love Ladder in another world.

Well, I guess the loving couple wouldn’t mind though the Stairways in Heaven are now clogged with moss.