The Life of Ling Ling: Part 1

Ling ling grew up in a small, poor farming community in central China.  The term "living hand to mouth" really does describe the way her family survived.  Most people in the farming community didn't have any money.  They grew what they ate, and they made their own clothes.  Many farmers wore an "army green" pair of tennis shoes that they could buy for cheap in the small local grocery stores.  In Ling Ling's case, her mother was a midwife, so their family was slightly better off than other families.  But even then, the family was so poor that when Ling Ling came of High school age, her family couldn't afford the $2.00 it cost to send her to High School.  But although she didn't receive much formal education, she gained a lot of "street smarts" living in her little farming community.

 Because her mother had some medical training, she always taught her kids to bathe regularly, and to be clean.  Ling Ling never got lice like many of the children in school.  Some of the kids were jealous and tried to put lice in her hair.  The teacher heard of this and checked her hair, but never found any lice.  

One day these same kids decided they would kick the back of her knee while she was walking so that they could make her fall.  As she walked along, she heard them talking, and knew what they were going to do.  Just as they came close to her and started to kick her leg, she shot her leg backward and kicked the assailant in the crotch.  These boys were quite surprised, and the one who received the kick was in great pain.  He went home and told his mother.  She came to Ling Ling's mother to complain, but was soon challenged by Ling Ling's side of the story.  The boys gave Ling Ling a wide berth after that.

Years later, she saw a husband and wife arguing and fighting.  The man was hitting his wife.  She went quickly forward and told him that he shouldn't hit his wife.  He of course got angry and said that maybe he would hit her.  But Ling Ling had spent her life working hard on the farm, and had developed a fair amount of muscles.  She was accustomed to carrying heavy loads of water to their home, and had worked hard in the fields.  She knew that she was much stronger than he was.  She wasn't just physically stronger, but mentally, and he backed down because of her confidence.  

But she wasn't just physically stronger, she was also mentally sharp.  One day some boys were teasing her and threatened to hit her.  She told them that she had developed her "chi gong", which is a chinese Kung Fu practice of channeling the life energy powers.  She told them that she could shock them with her powers.  She stood strong and confident, even though inside she knew she had no powers.  When some of the crowd of people doubted her, she challenged them to try her out!  She looked straight in to each of their eyes, pointed two straight fingers at them and said, "Do you want to try?"  Then she pretended to send a shock wave to one of the guys.  She said, "Did you feel that?"  He said, "Well, I do feel a little weaker."  The other guys lost their confidence and they left her alone.  She said that from that day on, people in her village showed her more respect.  Instead of ignoring her as they walked past, they would smile and say hello.

Stay tuned for more of the Life of Ling Ling to follow in another post.