Jiang Yanchen, a 21-year-old man from China’s Shandong province long known online as the country’s “folded boy,” has finally stood upright for the first time in his life.

Jiang’s spine had been so severely bent backward that his torso folded in a near-180-degree angle, leaving his head and neck drooping near his lower back and forcing his body into the shape of the letter “Z.”

The breakthrough came after a grueling, multi-year medical journey that pushed the limits of human endurance and modern orthopedic science.

“All the pain is worth it when I see myself more like an ordinary person,” Jiang said after taking his first upright steps during a livestream broadcast on August 25.

China’s “folded boy,” whose spine was bent backward 180 degrees, was finally able to stand upright after four

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