Li Lijuan and the children she adopted in Shangquan Village in Handan City, North China’s Hebei Province, Feb. 15, 2017. Li has adopted 102 children since the 1990s when she was financially well off. But by 2011, she couldn’t make ends meet and is now 2 million yuan ($291,000) in debt. Seven children she adopted have already gotten married and five are studying in universities. One son became a policeman and another now serves in the army. What inspired Li’s passion for saving children was her ex-husband’s sale of their son to a human trafficker for 7,000 yuan to buy drugs when she was in her 20s. Li bought back her son for 8,000 yuan and became dedicated to taking care of disadvantaged children. Her renown in taking care of orphans earned her village the reputation as the Village of Love, so some chose to leave their children near the village. In 2016 alone, Li adopted 29 children abandoned near Shangquan, most of them suffering from various diseases. In 2011, she was diagnosed with lymph cancer but she gave up treatment due to the high cost. Li’s daily routine usually starts at 5 am to prepare food and ends at 11 pm. She faces mounting stress to maintain the family, including costs of the more than 1 million yuan in 2016 alone for all kinds of medical treatment for her adopted children. In addition to health costs, the monthly expense for such a big family is about 50,000 yuan. She has tried all possible ways to make money, growing 1.3 hectares of land and feeding 120 goats, pigs and ducks. The four daughters who are now married said they will each help at least one younger sibling until they have their own families. (Photo/CFP)