THE DEVOTED HUSBAND WHO HAS SPENT 25 YEARS PLAYING MUSIC TO HIS PARALYZED WIFE
A 70-year-old man has played the erhu to his paralysed wife every day for the last 25 years.
Huang Suo plays the twostringed instrument, which is also known as the Chinese violin, to Gao Aixia to cheer her up, reports the People’s Daily Online.
The couple, who live in central China’s Luoyang city, were pictured on February 29 at home where Huang serenades his wife.
Over the years, Huang has taught himself to play over 200 songs. Gao’s favourite is ‘On the Golden Hill of Beijing,’ a famous cultural revolution song in China.
As she is in bed every day, Huang wants to relieve his wife of boredom so he plays to her to cheer her up.
Gao has always been impressed with Huang’s erhu skills, ever since the day they first met.
Huang revealed: ‘When I was young I was in the village promotional troop and I was in charge of playing erhu. It was because she liked my erhu playing that we first got together.’
Gao fell ill 25 years ago, and the illness led to her becoming paralysed and bed bound.
Since then, Huang has always cared for her. Doctors said the chances of her getting better were not very high, and she would need a miracle, but her husband has never given up on her.
Huang has tried lots of medicines and remedies to help his wife get better from her illness.
He found that she became most responsive when he played the erhu. When he first played it she opened his eyes and looked at him, so he played it every day since then.
He told reporters when they got married he promised his wife he will be good to her for a lifetime.
The couple have no children so Huang only has to provide his wife and himself.
To help Huang to look after his wife, people in the village asked him to clean the street near their home as a way to make some money. They gave him 500 Yuan a month (£50) as a stipend.
Huang still has hope for his wife and will never stop playing for her.
He said ‘I believe my wife will get better. I will play erhu for the rest of her life.
‘My wife says when she hears me play it feels like we are both young again.’