Cheerfully displaying nation’s uplifting spirit

An 11-minute video titled You raise me up, my uncle, telling the story of a farmer, has gone viral on social networking sites in China. The protagonist in the video was once a smart child leading a normal life in an unnamed remote village till a botched treatment by a village doctor for an ailment left him crippled for life. He was confined to bed for two years and could never go to school.

Later, he picked up the skills of a carpenter and began serving people in his village. He was very helpful and made friends wherever he went.

Today, aged 66, the farmer takes care of his 88-year-old mother and carries her around on his motorized tricycle when he goes to work. She sits near him and observes him do his carpentry. He has an adopted daughter, who is married and visits him often.

Although a simple story of an ordinary person in a remote village, the video has made a splash on video-sharing app bilibili, being watched at least 11 million times, getting over 1.9 million likes, and getting shared 756,000 times.

Someone commented saying: “Everybody has an uncle like his”. True, the uncle in the video is like millions of others we have seen, and yet, it is this similarity that has struck a chord with people. The life of the uncle in the video is like that of so many others, walking with a limp since childhood, not getting much education, never marrying, and working to support his mother. What makes him amiable is his struggle to master a skill, helping whoever he could and friendly demeanor.

It is this spirit of him that has kept him going all these years. It is the same spirit that has supported the Chinese nation for thousands of years. Hardworking Chinese people have tilled their land, contributed to the world, and now support the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. These are Chinese virtues that impress the world.