An amazing love story, worthy of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (though a little bit happier, no less romantic), has come out of China recently. It is a story of a younger man and an older woman (not Harold and Maude) who ran off to live and love each other in peace for over half century.

Over 50 years ago, Liu, was a 19 years-old boy who fell in love with a 29 year-old widowed mother named Xu. At the time, it was unacceptable and immoral for a young man to love an older woman.

In order to avoid market gossip and the scrutinizing comment from friends and family, the couple decided to elope and lived in a cave in Jiangjin County in Southern ChongQing area.

In the beginning, they had nothing, no electricity or even food. They had to eat grass and roots they found in the mountain. Life was harsh, at first, and Xu believed that she had tied Liu down, so she would repeatedly ask him “Are you regretful?” and Liu would always reply “As long as we are industrious, life will improve.”

Liu’s industry started the second year of living in the mountain, he began, and continue for over 50 years, to hand carve steps so that his wife could get down the mountain easily.

A half century later in 2001, a group of adventures were exploring the forest, surprisingly they found the elderly couple living in the cave, which was their home, and the over 6,000 stairs of hand carved ladder.

“My parents loved each other so much, they have lived in seclusion for over 50 years and never been apart a single day.” Liu MingSheng, one of their seven children said, “He hand carved more than 6,000 steps over the years for my mother’s convenience, although she doesn’t go down the mountain that much. It’s a ladder of love.”

After their story was released, the Chinese government decided to run electricity to the cave. At the awards ceremony their son accepted on their behalf, they were not present due to their age, and he brought with him one of the kerosene lamps his father had made from an ink bottle.

“My parents have lived in seclusion for more than 50 years because of their love for each other. They had no electricity and my father made kerosene lamps to lighten our lives,” he said.

The couple had lived in peace for over 50 years until last week. Liu, now 72 years-old, returned from his daily farm work and collapsed. Xu sat and prayed with her husband as he passed away in her arms.

So in love with Xu, was Liu, that no one was able to release the grip he had on his wife’s hand, even after he had passed away.

“You promised me you’ll take care of me, you’ll always be with me until the day I died, now you left before me, how am I going to live without you?” … …

Xu spent days softly repeating this sentence and touching her husband’s black coffin with tears rolling down her cheeks.

In 2006, their story had became one of the top 10 love stories from China, collected by the Chinese Women Weekly. The local government has decided to preserve the “love ladder” and the place they lived as a museum, so this love story can live forever.

This article was comprised of information and writing provided by www.weirdasiannews.com Images are courtesy of www.weirdasiannews.com

There is a new social networking site that is doing more than connecting less-than-lost friends or allowing you to secretly spy on you ex. Augmentation Nation is a forward thinking [tag]social networking[/tag] site with a purpose. They allow members to set up profiles with the intention of raising money for cosmetic surgery. The surgeries range from exercises in narcissism to facial reconstruction and surgeries that would offer substantial life changing results. People profile here I hopes of raising enough money to pay, or help with the costs of surgery, often because health insurance has denied coverage or they simply don’t have health insurance.

Each profile is linked to a Paypal account that accepts donations as small as a dollar. The profiles let you post a pic, explain your desired procedure and tell a little something about yourself. It also gives you a donation goal bar. As people make donation, the bar fills horizontally like a thermometer. It also tells you what percentage of your goal has been met. The site is completely free. Though they cannot guarantee that the people will use the money for their stated purpose, the donator must assume their monies are appropriately used. This would be why knowing the person or knowing about the person before you make your donation might be a good idea. Many of the members have external blogs or profiles on other social networking sites. This is a good resources for supplementing their [tag]Augmentation Nation[/tag] profile.

The site is small with less than 200 members, but seems to be growing at a steady pace. It offers resources such as “Surgeon Search.” Though it does not advocate for any doctor, they do assist you in finding one. They also post articles of recent news from the plastic surgery world, keeping their members abreast of controversy and change in the plastic surgery field. Currently in development is a forums section where, presumably, members will be able to talk to one another and support each other with their fund raising and their surgery.

As many people might suspect, the site has a lot of members with sexy pictures who are trying to sell you, with their bedroom eyes, as to why you need to give them money for their new boobs. I have to say, there are a lot of [tag]breasts[/tag] on the site. The creators must have had foresight to popularity of the [tag]Pam Anderson[/tag] special, because even their dummy image for the profile pic is a busty silhouetted woman. But breasts not withstanding, there are surgeries on the site that offer a reason besides living upto [tag]Playboy Bunny[/tag] standards of beauty. There are profiles that ask for help with nose jobs after being beaten and mugged, vision correction for near blindness, orthodontic surgery to correct severe under bites that interfere with speech and breathing. One blogger, Me and My Lazy I has been writing about the emotional struggles of living with [tag]Stratibismus[/tag], or a lazy eye, and her difficulties with getting the surgery to correct it. She created a profile after realizing she would have to pay for the surgery herself. Despite the intense affect this condition has on a person’s life, and is considered a social [tag]disability[/tag] due to evidence of discrimination, health insurance still considers this a cosmetic procedure. So she has started fundraising for her surgery. In return for the donation, she will continue to blog about her experience and pre and post-op pics. For those of us that like to watch plastic surgery TV for the procedures rather than the makeover, that is an exciting prospect. But beyond that, the blog offers a new dimension to the charity. Instead of giving money and never really seeing the fruit of your donation, with that addition of the blog you get to read how your donation affects her life both emotionally and physically.

So despite the abundance of breasts, Augmentation Nation has the potential to be a life-changing site for many people. Any donation you make is not specifically tax deductible, unless the people have established themselves as a non-profit, which is unlikely. However, if you speak with an accountant they can tell you if you are able to claim the deduction under general charity. To visit the site go to Augmentationnation.com

-Written by Lauren Armstrong