A 47-year-old Chinese woman is so happy to have found true love that she hasn’t taken off her wedding dress for the past ten years.
You might think that’s crazy, but wait till you hear everything she’s been through. At age 18, Xiang Junfeng was kidnapped from her hometown and sold to an elderly man.
She was forced to marry him and lived for 15 years in captivity before she found the courage to run away.
A native of Jimo, in China’s Shandong Province, Xiang was sold to a man in the neighboring city of Linyi. He ended up using her as a slave, putting her to work in the fields.
After several years of living in captivity, she managed to escape by running to Liujiazhuang village where a local woman helped her. Eventually, the woman turned out to be Xiang’s saviour in more than one way.
She introduced Xiang to her own brother, Zhu Zhengliang, and the couple tied the knot in 2004.
This event made poor Xiang so happy that she’s refused to wear anything but her wedding attire ever since.
Although she got married with just the one dress, Xiang later had three more made – one for each season.
“I bought one and made the other three,” she said. “I had only ever known a violent and abusive man and I avoided men until I met my new partner who brought me truly out of my shell and treated me so differently. I couldn’t believe it when he asked me to marry him.”
“My wedding day was the happiest day of my life and I never wanted it to end, and that was when I decided I wanted to not only keep wearing my wedding dress, but actually got four other wedding dresses as well.”
Ever since the wedding, Xiang’s husband has been helping to rehabilitate her to everyday life. “We felt comfortable with each other, so we have been together since then. I am very happy now, as my husband is very good for me.”
