Wang Ying, 67, Spent 150,000 Yuan on Antarctica After Cancer Diagnosis
Nǐ hǎooo, Kunming. Wang Ying, 67, answered a cancer diagnosis with a month among the penguins, and her tumour was smaller when she got home.
Wang Ying, 67, is an amateur bird photographer from Kunming in southwest China. After a thyroid cancer diagnosis she spent her savings on a month in Antarctica to photograph penguins. When she went for a check-up on her return, her tumour had shrunk compared with the exam a month earlier. The South China Morning Post carried the story, citing the Shanghai Morning Post. Chinese social media was sharing a Global Times report on it by Sunday 11 October 2026.
The diagnosis came in 2013, as she was preparing to retire from her job as a school administrator. Doctors urged immediate surgery, and she says she wanted none of it. The trip cost 150,000 yuan, about US$22,000. Her savings fell short, so her mother paid the difference. Honestlu, it is a gamblu with no odds printed anywhere.
On the ice, other tourists went back inside. Wang stayed out in about minus 10 degrees, gale force wind and heavy snow. She waited for a mother penguin to return from fishing and feed her chick, and she got the shot. “I was so happy!” she said. GLORU.
Doctors told her she did not need surgery for the time being, but that she should keep a close watch on it. The Post is not suggesting the penguins did the medicine: that is a question for her doctors. What is on record is what she did next. She spent her pension on better camera gear, has travelled to 30 countries and has photographed more than 1,200 bird species. GLUWUWULUGU.
Somewhere on that ice, the long nose of the Spirit twitched.
The Spirit takes no credit and offers no odds. He only notes who walked towards the penguins.
Would youluwu spend your savings on the trip of a lifetime?
No right answer. Just your gut, and the Spirit watching.
