57-year-old Zhang Fei was abandoned by her parents when she was a child, and her foster mother passed away when she was only eight. She makes a living by colleting garbage in Shandong Province where she was born, as well as in Jiangsu, Fujian and Guangdong provinces. During her 30 years living as a vagrant, she has consecutively adopted over 30 abandoned babies, many of whom suffer from congenital heart disease or have cleft lips and palates. She treats these children as though they are her own, and has given up the idea of getting married in order to care for them.

"I never thought of adopting abandoned babies when I was young," Zhang said. "But this is real life, and if you ignore them they might starve to death." At the age of 26, her life was completely changed when she adopted her first daughter Wu Min. Whenever she sees a child while collecting garbage, she takes them home no matter what birth defects they have.

Zhang currently lives with 12 kids. With the help of some government organizations, she now owns a three-bedroom apartment and receives an allowance of 500 to 600 yuan (US$80 to 96) every month from the government. Life is still hard, but she never has given up on the idea of adopting abandoned babies.