68-year-old Xuan Fengying caring for her daughter-in-law, Xu Cuihua, in Qingyun County, Shandong Province, China... One month after her wedding in 2009, Xu Cuihua was struck by a truck in China’s Shandong province. She survived, but a severe brain injury left her in a vegetative state. Her mother-in-law, Xuan Fengying, became her primary caregiver. Seventeen years later, she is still looking after her. Xuan fed Xu liquid food one spoonful at a time. A meal could take an hour. She turned her more than ten times a day to prevent bedsores, washed her, massaged her muscles and spoke to her about family news. She played songs Xu loved and kept calling her name. And where was Xu’s husband? Local reporting says he was working while his mother handled the daily care. It does not establish how much he helped after work, or whether he shared the feeding, bathing and rehabilitation. What the published accounts consistently describe is Xuan doing those tasks. Years passed before Xu began showing signs of awareness. The damage to her brain remained severe, but Xuan helped her practice walking and relearn everyday activities. Today Xu can speak short phrases, walk and prepare simple meals. Xuan is now 68, with high blood pressure and chronic leg pain. Once, when Xu fell, she needed a neighbor’s help to lift her. She admits envying other older people who have time to dance in the public square. Asked why she stayed, Xuan said Xu had married her son and therefore become her child. She could not abandon her. But Xuan’s greatest concern is what happens after she dies. She has specifically told her son that he must continue caring for his wife. That instruction raises a question the reporting does not answer: how much responsibility does he already shoulder? For Xuan, Xu’s ability to make a simple meal is a source of enormous relief. After 17 years of feeding her daughter-in-law, she wants to know Xu will still have something to eat when she is no longer there.