Wang Shuhong paints pictures of her family's life while her husband, Liang Wanrong, watches at their home in Changchun, Jilin province. [Photo for China Daily]

A hobby that grew out of an accident has now become cherished tradition

At every family reunion, Wang Shuhong, a retired teacher living in Changchun, capital of Jilin province, recounts stories from her past using her paintings.

Over the last decade, she has painted around 250 of them, mostly capturing the simple but vivid stories of family life, especially ones featuring her husband, whom she has known since childhood.

Wang isn't a particularly talented painter. Her pictures are not masterpieces, but they are a way for the family to record memories, and looking at them gives them pleasure.

She first began to paint in 2013 following an accident.

"I fractured my ankle and had to stay in bed for several months," Wang said. "To get over the boredom, I came up with the idea of painting, which I've been interested in since childhood."

At the beginning, she only copied pictures. One day, her husband told her that she should paint her own pictures, perhaps scenes from their lives over the last few decades. "He really encouraged me and gave me lots of good ideas, which helped me get started," she said.

They have known each other since birth. Wang was born in Yushu, Jilin, on Oct 10, 1945. Her husband, Liang Wanrong, was born next door that same day. When they started primary school, they became deskmates. "We also studied at the same high school," Wang said.

After graduating in 1964, Wang continued her studies at Yushu Normal School, a secondary college that closed in 2000, and Liang was admitted to the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Jilin University in Changchun. "From then until 1967, when I graduated and became a teacher at a primary school in Changchun, we were only able to meet during vacations," she said. "Our neighbors always said we were a good match, and some did their best to get us together."

The couple started dating in 1969, and in 1970, after Liang graduated and became a Chinese teacher at a middle school in Changchun, they married. "Life was really hard. We lived in a dormitory which had originally been a warehouse. It was cold in winter and hot in summer," Wang said. "However, we had many happy memories there, including the births of my eldest son and daughter."

Wang's painting of the colleges where she and her husband studied. [Photo for China Daily]

In 1976, the couple returned to their hometown to care for their aging parents. "We continued as teachers at different schools and made progress with each others' help and encouragement over the following decades," Wang said. "We were witnesses to how times changed over the years and how life got better and better."

In 1980, they moved into a 100-square-meter house, a big step up from the 5-square-meter room they had at Liang's parents' home. "For over six months, we spent all our spare time building the new house ourselves," she said. "We lived there for 10 years and then moved into a smaller apartment in 1990."

Following retirement in 2006, the couple moved to Changchun, where their two daughters live.

"Our son bought an 80-square-meter apartment in Changchun for us so that we can enjoy our later years," she said. "We've joined in a number of community activities with other elderly residents and have taken courses at Changchun University for Seniors."

Wang has recorded all these details in her paintings, and the couple often enjoy looking through them together. "When I show my grandchildren the one of us collecting leaves to burn in the stove to save money on coal in 1970s, they cannot relate," she said. "They don't even know why we had to have a stove in the room. The quality of life has greatly improved. Life's essentials are no longer hard to get. There are many ways to lead richer lives, such as travel."

In 2012, together with their son's family, the couple went to Europe.

They visited famous attractions in France, Italy and Britain, all later recorded in Wang's paintings.

"I was born into a poor family, but fortunately, my parents appreciated the importance of education, so they made every effort to send me to school," she said. "Knowledge changed my life. So I made sure my children also understood the importance of education."

Her eldest son holds a doctorate, her elder daughter has a bachelor's degree and her young daughter has a postgraduate degree.

"I will continue to paint," Wang said. "And I hope my paintings are passed down from generation to generation along with our good family traditions."