Photo story: A rural orphan's wish

"Mom loves you the most in world. She treats you like the treasure of the best…" like all the other boys at his age, Ma Tinggao, 14, likes singing the popular song. However, he sings in tears recalling the best memories with his parents who are already in heaven.

Ma Tinggao lives with his grandparents in a village in Cangshan County of east China's Shandong province. His parents have died one after another because of illness. The medical expense for his parents has already ruined the family.

Ma's grandmother is deaf and ill. His grandfather is already 80 years old. The communication between the three people is sometimes less than 10 sentences a day. Ma's life remains so quiet and lonely.

Because of the family condition, Ma has to take the burden of life. In addition to study at school, he helps grandparents do the housework and farm work. Without a stable source of income, they live in sore poverty. Pickled vegetables, potatoes and pancakes are their daily foods. Ma is very thin and severely malnourished. The local police station helps the family apply successfully the minimal and orphans grants. However, the meager subsidies are still inadequate for the impoverished family.

Facing the hard life, Ma hopes to change his fate by hard study, but his academic performance is not so good. "After the summer vacation, I will be in junior high school. I like studying. But I can't afford the academic counseling books. Nobody can help me with study at home. If only my parents were still alive…" Ma speaks with tears by holding tightly the photo of his parents.