Yuan Dianhua is well known in his hometown of Dongming County in east China's Shandong Province, primarily for the opportunities he has given to the disabled and ex-soldiers at his small factory.

A former soldier himself, the 42 year old has tried his hand at many vocations in selling vegetables, raising fish and planting trees on the Tibetan highland, among others.

When Yuan joined the army in October 1983, he was only 17. He quickly won overwhelming praise for his hard-bitten spirit and attitude that he brought to both his life and work. Months later, his life changed totally when he lost both his legs during a military mission.

Despite a decent pension, he refused to literally stand still in his life after leaving the military in 1987.

"I can never live the rest of my life in a wheelchair. I will stand," he said rather convincingly.

After his accident, even the artificial limbs he was fitted with couldn't support him well enough to walk independently. By the time he was really able to stand without crutches and move without a wheelchair, the join where his flesh connected with the limbs were bloodied and bruised all over.

Then he learned to ride a bicycle and motorbike.

At the end of the 1980s, he started a vegetable store with his wife. The business went well until a fire in June 1990 burned almost everything in their house.

The family lived the following days selling dumplings on the street and eating only the vegetables they had planted.

"The days were really hard back then, but they were no more than 24 hours," Yuan said.

In 1991, he borrowed 2,000 yuan (about US$292) and went to the country's economy hub Shanghai for better employment opportunities. He spent five years there selling workers safety products.

One time a screw came loose in one of his artificial limbs and Yuan fell down the stairs while climbing up to an office on a sales call. The office manager was so moved by his tough spirit he signed a 15,000 yuan contract that day.

It was Yuan's hard-bitten nature that gained him respect and enough money to start his life over again.

When he came home five years later, he not only paid all his debt, he even built a two-story house for his family.

He then bought and managed a fish pond and set up a tree-planting company in the southwest Tibetan highland.

In 2005 after Yuan had returned home, he learned of other people's disabilities and the difficulties they had in finding jobs. "All these years I've been busy making a career for myself, I've paid too little attention to my fellow disabled," he said.

"I feel so sad to see my comrades living in such difficulty. It doesn't matter how much money I earn. I only want to try my best to help them live a better life."

Despite the objections of relatives and friends, he gave up the business in Tibet and set up a small factory where disabled people produced gloves, helmets and other labor safety products.

With the support from the local government, the factory officially started in November 2006 in a former school building.

Now, more than 30 disabled workers, including 22 former soldiers, work in the factory.

"Though I took off my uniform long ago and I lost my legs, I will stand up straight ... because it is soldier's blood flowing in my veins," Yuan said.

(Xinhua News Agency September 15, 2008)