China Daily
25th May 2020
Salon owner beats disability to find success
When Liu Yanzhi was a teenager, she would secretly apply her mother's lipstick and go out onto the streets in her wheelchair with her younger sister.
However, many passersby gave her contemptuous looks, muttering that it was silly for a disabled person to wear makeup. Her sister was often embarrassed and pleaded with Liu not to do it.
"I was quite angry," said Liu, who has been unable to walk since she contracted a fever when she was 8 months old. "Which law says disabled women can't wear makeup? Every woman has the right to pursue beauty. Wearing makeup makes women like me confident."
At age 25, Liu － then a single mother with a baby daughter － used an interest-free loan arranged by the local government to open a beauty salon in her home county in Anhui province.
Now, the 31-year-old owns a factory that produces her own brand of cosmetics.