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102-year-old mother with Alzheimer’s thanking her ‘mum’ sweet video touches millions in China as she mistakenly believes caregiving daughter is her parent

  • The old woman sometimes confuses her daughter for her mother, highlighting that Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease
  • The younger woman said she wants to show the best side of her mother, so she shares the positive moments they have

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A woman’s decision to share moments of her caring for her mother with Alzheimer’s has attracted millions of followers online. Photo: SCMP composite
Mandy Zuoin Shanghai

China’s oldest online celebrity might be a 102-year-old woman with Alzheimer’s and her 59-year-old daughter offers a window into the life of two women trying to navigate the debilitating brain disease.

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The older woman, Yang Yulin from Sichuan province in southwest China, occasionally believes her daughter, Li Yongchun, is actually her mother.
“Mum, mum, where are you?” the old woman shouted when she briefly lost sight of her daughter on the street.
In recent videos, Yang still regularly mistakes Li for her mother or elder sister.
Li Yongchun, left, is now a full-timer caregiver for her mother. Photo: Sina
Li Yongchun, left, is now a full-timer caregiver for her mother. Photo: Sina

Despite the serious nature of the subject, Yang’s daughtertries to show the fun and loving moments the two share. She said she only posts about happy moments and deliberately avoids sharing the hardship in her work because she wants to show her mother’s clean, healthy and joyful side in her old age.

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Li has spent the past six years looking after Yang round the clock and has won widespread applause for her patience and good care of the centenarian.

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