Liang, a staff with the management of Shenzhen University and the only woman in the Chinese amateurs team, is now snow-blind and suffering from frostbite.

I recently interviewed her in her ward in Beijing's Jishuitan Hospital to share her story with more people.

Her ward was unexpectedly crowded with doctors, nurses, friends, reporters and local Shenzhen government officials who came to pay a visit.

Liang, in bed, was on a drip and electrocardiogram, but she still had to face endless visitors and autograph souvenirs, including thousands of postcards, T-shirts and maps of Qomolangma.

What frustrated me most was that I could not make eye contact with her, because of the dark glasses she had to wear due to snow-blindness. But amid the noise and the mess, Liang started to tell me her story, delivering it with power and passion, punctuated by bursts of hearty laughter.

Strong will

Liang was born into a family of Hakka descent in the small county of Heyuan, South China's Guangdong Province.

The Hakkas - which translates as "people from the outside" - are known for their determination and endurance. They were among the Han people living in the Yellow and Yangtze river valleys who were forced to leave their homes in Central China and migrate south to escape the war during the Jin (AD 265-420) and Tang (AD 618-907) dynasties. They suffered misery and hardship on the way.

Liang said she was very much a Hakka girl, strong-willed and brave at a very young age. She liked to play with her friends in the mountains and collect firewood there with her parents and brothers.

But despite her active childhood, Liang said she was never as sturdy as her schoolmates.

"I entered primary school one or two years earlier than my peers and was not as strong and tall as the others, so I always failed sports tests," she recalled.

"If there was any tiny, innate sporting ability, it may come from my father who loves basketball. I sometimes watched him playing basketball when I was young," she said.

Liang's sporting prowess did not emerge until she entered Shenzhen University in 1986.

In a 800-metre running test in her freshman year, a sports teacher discovered her potential for long-distance running.

"The teacher said I had great stamina for running," Liang recalled. "I told him I seldom passed sports tests in primary school and did poorly at them in middle school. But he insisted that I have a try and so I started to train in medium and long-distance running in my spare time," Liang said.

She denied with a smile her friends and schoolmates' claims that she excelled at sports, including running, soccer, tennis and badminton.

"I just showed interest in sports," Liang said.

This interest and ability led her to meet her husband Li Weiwen.

Li was her teammate during the ascent of Mount Qomolangma and is also receiving treatment for his frostbitten fingers in the same ward.

In 1990, Liang and Li both graduated and stayed on to work in Shenzhen University. Li teaches civil engineering while Liang joined the university management team.

"Our common interests and hobbies, including sports, brought us together," said Li. And they married three years later.

"She is a good partner in sports and an ordinary wife. I did not think she is a unique woman," Li said.

Their colleagues know only that the low-key couple lead a simple but sporty life, winning mixed-double awards in the university's badminton matches and travelling the country during holidays.

"Liang is very gentle and feminine. It is hard to relate the short and thin woman we know to the one who ascended to 8,848.13 metres," said university leader Jiang Zhong.

"We had heard that Liang often climbed mountains with her husband, but knew little about how high and how difficult those mountains were, for she never talked about her achievements," said He Jun, one of her colleagues at the university.

High altitude obsession

Liang said she did not really pursue mountain climbing until she read "Higher Than 8,000 Metres," a book written by Peking University's Mountain Eagles Club in early 2000.

The club, founded in April 1989, is the first student organization dedicated to mountain climbing in the country.

"Before then, we often felt frustrated by the crowds and polluted environments at the tourist spots we travelled to on holidays. The book inspired me to get closer to nature," said Liang.

She prefers not to say she has "conquered nature" when describing her achievements. "Nature is so great," Liang said.

Li added, "In remote and untravelled mountains, we realized how serene and at ease we were there compared to life in the crowded cities."

Since then, mountain climbing has topped the couple's list of interests. The cost of equipment and training has become the largest drain on the two-person family's finances.

The couple started climbing small hills around Shenzhen and regularly received professional training from local mountain climbing associations.

"Liang is cool-headed and rational. Those personality traits help her do well in a high-risk activity. In less than three years, she has proved herself an outstanding amateur climber," said Zhou Xingkang, head of Shenzhen Mountain Climbing Association, who also took part in the expedition in May.

In September 2000, Liang and Li joined a team to climb 6,178-metre Yuzhu Peak, in western China's Qinghai Province, from the south ridge.

It was their first experience climbing higher than 4,000 metres. There Liang learned to use ice picks, iron chains and how to walk on ice-covered mountains.

Since 2001, she has visited Beijing every Spring Festival holiday to take more advanced ice-climbing courses.

In May 2001, when she climbed Yuzhu Peak from the north ridge, another member of her team suffered from high-altitude encephaledema and her leader asked all the climbers to descend.

"It was the first time I saw the risks involved with my own eyes ...," Liang said. "It drove me on to do more training and to climb higher."

Her later climbs included Muztagata (7,546 metres) in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in July 2001 and the First Sister Peak in the Four Sisters Mountains (known as si guniang shan in Chinese, the mountains have four peaks) in Southwest China's Sichuan Province in October 2001.

"It's true that women are physically weaker than men, but with more scientific weight training, I could manage as well as a man," Liang said.

Early this year, she and her husband planned to climb Cho Oyu, the world's sixth highest peak in the Tibet Autonomous Region. They told the China Mountain Climbing Association of their plans.

Brave ascent

At the time, the association was preparing an expedition to mark the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of Mount Qomolangma.

"Although we had never climbed to 8,000 metres and our time was limited, we were not afraid of making an attempt. It was Mount Qomolangma, which is the dream of every climber," said Liang.

"So when the association asked whether we wanted to attempt the summit, we said yes without hesitation."

Liang did not tell her parents or friends of their decision because it would worry them.

Her father said he was concerned about her safety.

"But I had no choice but to watch the TV broadcast and wish her well," he said.

Her father, a retired middle school teacher in his 70s, said he knew his daughter and son-in-law liked to travel but had no idea they had climbed several dangerous mountains.

"But since it is their hobby, we would not interfere," he said. "I know my daughter well. Born into an impoverished family, she and her three brothers all experienced hardship and know how to take care of themselves."

Before launching their summit attempt, Liang and other members of the expedition climbed mountains higher than 6,200 metres to acclimatize.

"I suffered a little altitude sickness. It did not kill my passion. Instead, it helped me succeed finally," said Liang.

Unfortunately, Li missed most of the pre-training , because he stayed at university to finish the thesis that would give him an associate professor's title. On Mount Qomolangma, he had to withdraw at 8,700 metres.

"I was disappointed, but not too much so. I gained valuable experience this time, and I will carefully plan my next ascent," he said resolutely.

Li said he regretted not being able to speak to his wife, who was already above 8,700 metres when he turned back. "If I had been able to call her, I would only have encouraged her to go on," he said.

"I really respect her. Since I have been there, I know how hard it is for a climber, especially for a woman. Even a wind gust could blow you off. You have to be physically and mentally well-prepared," Li said.

Liang admitted she felt her weakest at 8,700 metres and was almost too exhausted to hold onto the rope.

"I had no energy to go up or down. I yelled out to call on all my strength to ascend along the rope," she said.

Liang does not regret the climb, despite her snow-blindness and frostbitten fingers (two ring fingers and two little fingers).

"I was aware of the risk of injury, since I knew it was a dangerous climb," she said.

"But I did learn from the experience. My past climbs had been too smooth to remind me of the dangers, though I saw my mountaineering friends injured. Next time, I will be more careful," she said.

According to Zhang Guo'an, director of the hospital's burns department, who is in charge of treating Liang, she is expected to recover from her snow-blindness in a week. Her fingers are also losing their numbness with the help of drugs that act on her circulatory system.

"Now it is my turn to climb Qomolangma, by trying my best to help her regain the use of her fingers to the largest extent possible," Zhang said.

Nothing can stop the couple from climbing mountains. "Mountain climbing enriches my life and realizes my dream of communing with nature. I will continue mountain climbing in time and with the help of my friends," Liang said.

(China Daily June 13, 2003)