Xia Boyu, 73, had both legs amputated due to ill-fated frostbite. Wang Zilong, 9, lost both hands following an accidental electric shock.

But both were "flying with wings" together at the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, demonstrating to the world the true meaning of the Paralympic "Flying High" emblem at the China's National Stadium (the Bird's Nest) in Beijing on March 4. "The emblem conveys a message that people with disabilities, too, can aim high and realize their dreams despite their disability," Xia told Beijing Review.

Xia was born in 1949, the same year the People's Republic of China was founded. Over the past seven decades, his painstaking efforts have gained him many prominent titles: the world's oldest person with disabilities and China's first person with disabilities to reach the summit of the world's highest mountain, and the fourth Chinese to win the prestigious Laureus Award for "Sporting Moment of the Year" in 2019.

Xia added two more exciting titles to that list in early March: the first Paralympic torchbearer at the Great Wall and a performer during the opening ceremony of the Winter Paralympics.

"I felt extremely excited to be in the Bird's Nest to show the world how impaired people celebrate the event in China and how they constantly strive to be stronger," Xia said.

Surviving disaster

This is not the first time Xia has engaged in the Olympic Games. In May 2008, he was invited to the northern Qomolangma Base Camp to cheer on the mountaineers lighting the torch for the Olympic Summer Games Beijing 2008 at the summit. The Olympic flame also ignited Xia's long-cherished desire to scale the "Roof of the World."

The year 2008 marked the 33rd one since losing the lower part of his legs and the 12th after his battle with lymphoma.

Xia was once a promising footballer in Qinghai Province in northwest China, and quick on his feet. When he was 25, he joined China's Mountaineering Team and tried to ascend Mount Qomolangma in May 1975. A snowstorm hit when they were only 200 meters from the top; they waited there, two days and three nights, for the storm to stop raging. Unfortunately, they ran out of canned oxygen and decided to turn back.

Xia gave his sleeping bag to one of his Tibetan teammates who had lost his on the descent. Then nicknamed "fire god" by his fellow mountaineers, Xia never expected his leg to contract frostbite.

The amputation crushed his football dreams, but he didn't want to be wheelchair-bound for the rest of his life.

In late 1975, a German doctor told him that he could walk, even mountaineer, again with the help of prostheses. The doctor's words, like a flame, warmed up Xia's spirit. After three years of rehabilitation, Xia stood up on his prostheses. He then started to work at the Chinese Mountaineering Association in Beijing.

Xia tried to live a healthy, normal life. He would cycle to and from work, a 32-km roundtrip. He would practice his walking every day and participated in various sports events for people with disabilities—often bringing home medals.

Yet his frequent movement, and good intentions, resulted in abrasions in his legs, leading to further complications. In 1993, Xia underwent another amputation, losing another third of his shanks. What's worse, he was diagnosed with lymphoma three years later—already in the middle and advanced stages. "This dealt me a heavy blow," Xia said. After four surgeries and a course of chemotherapy, he made it out alive.

A lifelong dream

When Xia turned 59 in 2008, he vowed to once again scale Qomolangma. He gradually upped his training regime and summited different peaks above 5,000 meters over the following six years. During that time, he met a fellow mountaineer who also happened to be a real estate developer. The latter promised to fund Xia's trips to scale the "Roof of the World." After all, ascending Qomolangma cost about 350,000 yuan ($52,890) for a healthy mountaineer in the late 2010s, a huge burden for a retiree.

The biggest challenge for mountaineers with prostheses is that they can't feel the ground. When they climb snow-capped peaks, it's difficult for them to judge which path is safer. They can only judge with their eyes and maintain their balance with the help of alpenstocks. Xia got in touch with Mark Inglis of New Zealand, the first mountaineer with disabilities to scale Qomolangma in 2006. Inglis encouraged Xia to pursue his dream.

Xia undertook three expeditions to the "Roof of the World," between 2014 and 2016, but he failed due to unfavorable weather conditions. In the first two years, two avalanches killed local guides and people on the mountain after his arrival at the southern base camp in Nepal. And the real estate developer was reluctant to fund Xia's third expedition. In 2016, he tried again, this time tapping into his own savings. He got to 94 meters from the summit, but a sudden blizzard forced him to retreat.

The path to success

His dream finally came true on May 14, 2018, a sunny day on top of Mount Qomolangma. Xia, then 69, reached the summit of the "Roof of the World." At long last, he was standing on the peak he had been dreaming about for 43 years. "By ascending Qomolangma, I wanted to prove that I am as strong as any 'regular' person—in spite of my amputations."

Xia's story inspired many alpinists. Zhu Hongfei, who scaled Qomolangma one week after Xia, had heard about his story long before. "Scaling Qomolangma represents an arduous endeavor. It's incredible that Xia reached the summit with prostheses. I was deeply moved by his strong will and the relentless pursuit of his dream," Zhu told Beijing Review.

The following year, a film titled The Climbers starring Zhang Ziyi and Wu Jing was screened in China. Part of it told Xia's story.

"Because of the Beijing 2022 Games, China has engaged more than 300 million residents in winter sports, including many people with disabilities," Xia said. He also wants to engage more in mountaineering.

He aims to scale the highest peaks across seven continents and undertake expeditions to both the Earth's poles. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, he temporarily put his plans on halt. But he has another one: climbing 1,000 mountains across 100 Chinese cities. He has managed to scale more than 20 mountains in eight cities since March 2021. "I want to engage more citizens in mountain climbing and help them get stronger, to eventually claim victory over the pandemic," he said. 

Copyedited by Elsbeth van Paridon

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