Inspirational Armless Teacher Who Lost Limbs In Electricity Accident Tapes Chalk To His Stump For Lessons

The term inspiration is used a lot especially on reality TV singing contests but this Chinese teacher is the living embodiment of the word.

Jiang Shengfa, 41, lost both his arms in the winter of 1996 to a catastrophic high-voltage accident when he was trying to fix an electrical cable.

He is now a much respected and learned teacher but it was not an easy journey.

After the accident, Shengfa spent most of his savings on hospital treatment resulting in his wife leaving him and his son.

He was then forced to beg on the streets of several major cities in order to survive, but life gave him another challenge when his mother died several years later.

With no one to take care of his son, the single father left his child in the care of his older brother and sister-in-law, while he continued to survive on just one meal a day.

His life improved for the better when Shengfa’s brother retired from a local school and recommended him to fill the vacancy as a substitute.

Shengfa took up the job, despite earning less than other qualified teachers due to his lack of education.

Managers at the school in the town of Chang’an, in Zhaotong City in south-west China’s Yunnan Province admit they were at first sceptical about taking on disabled Jiang Shengfa to teach kids.

Shengfa spoke of the severe depression he experienced after his accident: ‘I couldn’t leave him to become an orphan. I wanted him to be proud of me.’

Twelve years on, Shengfa is now one of the most respected and competent educators at his school, guiding his primary school pupils with his knowledge about Chinese language as well as with his philosophy about life.

Shengfa said: ‘My life hasn’t been easy, but have I managed to survive and now I have a life that I enjoy.

‘One of my strengths comes from all the good people around me - my students, my family and everyone else.’

Shengfa, whose story was first published in 2013, became somewhat of a local hero when he turned down a high-paying job at an educational institution in China’s central Henan Province.

He said he could never forget where his career had started - teaching in his rural hometown - and that he is at his happiest when with the children.