Talented rider, with prosthetic limb, enjoys the admiration of onlookers
Hu Yue shows a friend her stunt-riding skills on a skateboard at a park in Chengdu, Sichuan province. (LIU LANYING / FOR CHINA DAILY)
When she rides her skateboard, Hu Yue impresses passersby with her confidence.
She attracts attention because the lower half of her left leg is artificial.
Standing 1.68 meters tall, the 26-year-old has worked for 14 years to overcome her disability, changing it from being considered strange to being seen as cool.
My parents were opposed to skateboarding, but when they saw me, they had to buy me one.
Hu Yue, skateboarding enthusiast in Chengdu, Sichuan province
The native of Pingwu county in Sichuan province lost part of her left leg during the Wenchuan earthquake on May 12, 2008, which killed over 69,000 people and left more than 17,000 people missing.
Hu was in a math class and was trapped under piles of rubble in the aftermath of the devastating quake.
Her injuries left her left calf severely inflamed and eventually, it had to be amputated.
In a tent where that took place, three amputations were performed at the same time.
"During the operation, the two men on the left and right were crying because they only used local anesthesia," Hu said.
A nurse stuffed her mouth with gauze and whispered: "If it hurts, bite down."
Hu did just that, biting the gauze until it was shredded, but she did not cry because she didn't want to distress her parents, who were waiting outside the tent.
As brave as she was for the operation, she was hurt later when a young boy said that she looked strange. The words cast a shadow over Hu, and she did not have the courage to wear the skirt that was part of her junior high school uniform.
When she graduated from the Chengdu Institute at Sichuan International Studies University in 2018, she swore she would wear a skirt to the ceremony to show her true self, but at the last minute, she caved in.
Hu displays a bold design on the base of her skateboard at the park. (LIU LANYING / FOR CHINA DAILY)
A year after the amputation, skateboarding became a trend at school. Hu borrowed a board to learn how to ride, and a few days later, she showed her parents how good she had become.
"My parents were opposed to skateboarding, but when they saw me, they had to buy me one," said Hu, who stopped skateboarding in middle and high school because she had no time.
In 2014, she enrolled at the university where she joined the school's skateboarding club.
After graduating in 2018, her work at an internet company kept her from practicing, but she picked up the sport again last winter and later got the chance to participate in the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympic Games.
During rehearsals, the organizing committee was looking for a female skateboarder, so Hu took part in the opening ceremony in March.
She did not appear as a skateboarder, but was happy to meet other disabled people, including Xia Boyu. Xia, who lost both lower legs, managed to summit Qomolangma, also known as Mount Everest, at the age of 69 in 2018.
Hu said that people like Xia have helped dispel the idea that disabled people are unable to take care of themselves, and that she has since realized that she does not have to pay attention to what others think.
The realization gave her the courage to start wearing skirts again.
When she removes the sponge layer of the prosthesis, exposing its metal skeleton and installing a glittering shell before skateboarding, she hears the onlookers exclaim that it looks cool. Friend and former colleague Li Caiyi said that Hu loves traveling and riding mountain bikes, is sociable and likes spending time with colleagues after work.
Li added that many former colleagues have taken up skateboarding as a result of her influence.
With its mountainous terrain, Sichuan is prone to frequent tremors, and when a 6.8-magnitude quake hit Luding county on Sept 5, Hu fled her apartment on the 10th floor on the staircase.
"I took it two steps at a time to reach the ground quickly," she said.
