I got this story by a letter from my foreign friend and I was shocked when I read it. So, I'd like to dedicate it here to share with you all......

It is a story of a man and an old woman who ran off to live and love each other in peace for over half a century.

The 70-year-old Chinese man who hand-carved over 6,000 stairs upto a mountain for his 80-year-old wife has passed away in the cave which had been the couple's home for the last half century.

Over 50 years ago, Liu Guojiang, a 19 year-old boy feel in love with a 29 year-old widowed mother named Xu Chaoqin....

In a twist worthy of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, friends and relatives criticized the relationship because of the age difference and the fact that Xu already had children.

At that time, it was unacceptable and immoral for a young man to love an older woman... To avoid the market gossip and the scorn of their communities, the couple decided to elope and then lived in a cave of Jiangjin County in southern ChongQing.

At the beginning, life was harsh as they had nothing, no electricity and even no food. They had to eat grass and roots they found in the mountain, and Liu made a kerosene lamp to light their life.

Xu felt she had tied Liu down and repeatedly asked him: 'Are you regretful?' Liu always replied: 'As long as we are industrious, life will be improved.'

Since the second year of living in the mountain, Liu started to hand-carve the steps and then kept doing it for over 50 years, so that his wife could get down the mountain easily.

Half a century later in 2001, a group of adventures happened to find this elderly couple and these over 6, 000 staires with a great surprise when they were exploring the forest. Liu Mengsheng, one of the couple's senven children said: 'My parents loved each other so much that they lived in seclusion for more than 50 years and never been apart for a single day. He hand-carved more than 6,000 steps over the years for my mother's convenience, though she doesn't go down the mountain that much.'

The couple had lived in peace for over 50 years until that day.... Liu, when he was 72, returned from his daily farm work and collapsed. Xu sat and prayed when her husband passsed away in her arms. So, in love with Xu, it was Liu that no one else who was able to release the grip he had on his wife's hand even at the moment he was passing away....

'You promised me you'll take care of me. You'll always be with me until the day I died. Now you left before me, how am I living without you?'

Xu spent days softly repeating this sentence and touching her husband's black coffin with tears rolling down along her cheeks.

In 2006, their story became one of the top 10 love stories in China, collected by the Chinese Woman Weekly. The local government has decided to preserve the love ladders and the place they lived as a museum, so this love story can live forever.