Columban Frs Alvaro Martinez (left), Tim Mulroy and Dan Troy (right) with Yang Xu when they met in February 2024, in China. - Photo: Dan Troy
In February 2024, as I walked along the narrow dusty street in Gaoyi with Columbans Fr Tim Mulroy and Fr Alvaro Martinez towards the home of Yang Xu, I was aware that quite a few people had visited Yang Xu in recent years. The gate was open for us to enter the small compound within which a series of rooms forms the family home, a few birds singing in cages adding to the beauty inside the plain compound walls.
We walked towards Yang Xu’s room at the far corner of the compound and called out to him as we got near. Yang Xu’s mumbled response heralded a warm welcome. As we entered, he greeted us from his wheelchair with a smile. I introduced Fr Tim and Fr Alvaro, who were visiting mainland China for the first time to learn about the Church in China and our involvement. With typical Chinese kindness, Yang Xu’s mother arrived a few minutes later, welcoming us and distributing cups of tea.
Yang Xu was born with severe cerebral palsy. He has never walked and has only restricted use of his hands. His speech is also affected. However, he is both intelligent and attentive to all that is happening around him. His family had no contact with the Church until the local congregation of diocesan Sisters established a rehabilitation centre nearby for people with disabilities. Yang Xu became friendly with the Sisters, and they gradually taught him how to use a computer. He learned how to type with the aid of a stick held in his left hand. For a person who had never attended school, he made remarkable progress in using computers and learning to type. Within a few months, the Sisters were calling for his help to solve any problems with their computers. The student had truly become the teacher!
Around 2011, Sr Lang at the convent asked me if Yang Xu could join a Columban project to make Christmas and greeting cards. He joined the project and was very happy to be involved. A few years later he was encouraged to produce three pieces of artwork and later began to make greeting cards with small reprints of his artwork. Most of these cards are distributed to friends and benefactors in China and Hong Kong.
During this visit with Fr Tim and Fr Alvaro, we had the opportunity to see how Yang Xu makes Christmas cards. It took five minutes of dedication and coordination with his hands to use the equipment to glue a picture in place on the main card, apply an ink stamp to print the greeting and then fold the card into its final shape.
As if to show us that his skills were not just limited to artwork and card making. Yang Xu then turned on his television and linked it to his computer to show us a 12-minute video that he’d produced a few years earlier. The video, brightened up with graphics, text and music, showed the same process of how he makes the cards. It is quite an achievement for Yang Xu to produce something so engaging.
The creativity of the family can also be seen in how his father likes to practise calligraphy as well as take care of a few cheerful colourful birds. Yang Xu also likes to go to the nearby park to fly a kite, a great way for him to meet other people. His brother lives in an upstairs home with his wife and two children; all are kind to Yang Xu. They appear to be a deeply supportive family.
Some years ago, Yang Xu began going to the nearby Catholic church each Sunday. Through attending Mass for several weeks, he became friendly with a few young parishioners. With their encouragement, he eventually expressed an interest in becoming a Catholic, which at first caused a little unease among his family due to them not knowing much about the life of the church. However, within a few years, following his dad’s retirement from a job in local administration, Yang Xu received the sacrament of baptism. Easter of 2019 will be forever remembered by him as the day he became a Catholic, a day that is a milestone on his gradual and unique journey of faith.
As Fr Tim, Fr Alvaro and I enjoyed our time in Yang Xu’s room, I was aware of the great privilege to have the opportunity to visit the home of a family in China.
The colours, the furniture, the decoration and the photographs reveal so much about the people who live there. For Yang Xu, his room at the side of the family’s small compound is where his creativity blossoms like a beautiful flower gradually opening to the spring sunshine.
After saying goodbye to his parents, the four of us headed into the street to walk to the nearby convent. Yang Xu led the way in his new electric wheelchair, testing it for speed as he crossed the main road with merely a glance to check for traffic, the wind in his hair as he smiled gleefully, and us walking swiftly behind, trying to catch up with him!
As we hurried along behind him, it seemed that God had placed us in the care of someone keen to show us that this was his home, that this was his town, and that this was the place where he lived his life with confidence and ever-deepening faith among family and friends.
Columban Fr Dan Troy lives and works in China.
Listen to "A journey of faith and creativity"
Related links
- Read more from The Far East - August 2024
