Delegate's Disability No Barrier to Success

Hou Jingjing was one of China's Ten Most Outstanding Women in 2006, assistant professor at Nanjing Normal University and now a two-time delegate to the National Congress of CPC.

Hou Jingjing, the first Chinese woman in a wheelchair to earn a doctorate said physical disability should not disrupt life. "I'm not at all different from others. And I'll work hard to be a qualified Party member," she told Xinhua.

Hou has been paralyzed from the waist down since aged 11. She managed to finish middle school courses, pass self-taught examinations to earn a bachelor degree and finished first in the doctoral qualifying examinations in her field at Nanjing Normal University.

Hou pays special attention to China's education system and studied the contents of the 18th CPC National Congress report. "It's very important to develop continuation education and a well-rounded lifelong education system. I'm encouraged to see the trend," she told Xinhua.