With a book written by him, Qin Yongquan, a veteran cyclist, is preparing to undergo a knee-joint replacement surgery this morning, to realize his dream.

Wendy Zhang/ Shanghai Daily news

Qin Yongquan, a 79-year-old Shanghai cyclist who was listed in the Guinness Book of Records 1995 for having ridden through 30 Chinese provinces, cities and autonomous regions, successfully underwent knee-joint replacement surgery at the Shanghai Changhang Hospital this morning, and so moved one step closer to fulfilling his latest dream - to visit Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan by bike.
Qin, who has been suffering from serious arthritis for five years, is now unable to walk on his deformed legs. After being told by many doctors that he was too old for surgery, he was quite disappointed. However, he has never relinquished his desire to stand on his own two feet again.
After reading a newspaper article a week ago, Qin consulted Prof. Zhang Zhongnan, President of Shanghai Changhang Hospital and also Chairman of the International Bone and Joint Surgery Center. Seeing many patients walk freely after knee-joint replacement surgeries, he regained confidence and decided to have a try.
"I felt something was wrong with my legs in 1998 and the situation became much worse over the years. I decided to receive the surgery to complete my dream - traveling to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan by bike, the last three cities in China where I haven't stepped foot. If my dream comes true, I will have ridden throughout the whole country," Qin said excitedly.

Qin Yongquan is on his way to the operation room.

Prof. Zhang is delighted to help Qin realize his dream.
" I am very touched by his strong perseverance and optimism, and I am confident that his legs can get well after the surgery. We will replace his two painful, damaged and diseased knee joints with artificial ones imported from the US," Zhang explained, adding that such artificial joints have a life span of more than 20 years. "Our nurses will monitor his heart, pulse and blood pressure on a 24-hour basis after the operation to avoid possible reactions. Qin is expected to stand up by himself tomorrow afternoon, to walk by himself after 10-15 days, to go upstairs and downstairs after 20 days, when he can leave the hospital, and to ride his bike after 6 to 12 months, " Zhang said with confidence.
Having performed a total of 1,800 such surgeries since 2003, Zhang stressed that the success rate at the hospital is 100 percent, with no patients facing post-operational problems.
From March 1, 1990 to August 3, 1991, Qin Yongquan, together with team-mates Gong Chengshen and Ding Aiping, spent 549 days completing a 3,064-kilometer journey by bike. Crossing the Yangtze River six times, the Great Wall of China seven times and the Yellow River nine times, they have accumulated and written more than one million characters-worth of writings and also delivered more than 400 speeches across the country. After a tremendous five-day effort, they even succeeded in crossing the Taklimakan desert, the country's largest and known as China's 'Dead Sea', to become the world's first explorers to cross the world's second largest desert by bike, as recorded in the Guinness Book.