China’s so-called folded boy Jiang Yanchen, whose spine had been contorted backwards at an 180-degree angle for most of his life, has finally stood up straight.

Jiang took his first upright steps during a live-stream on August 25.

The 21-year-old underwent four extremely difficult operations over the past two years in which doctors broke and realigned the bones in his lumbar, cervical, hip and chest regions.

Jiang, from a small town in eastern China’s Shandong province, grew up with his neck increasingly bending backwards and his body folding in the shape of the letter “Z”.

When Jiang tried to stand up straight, he was only y 120cm tall, and about t 80cm tall when he was in a natural position.

However, he did not receive proper treatment due to a lack of medical resources.

Jiang had to kneel or lie in a prone position while taking classes and exams at school, but he remained optimistic and kept working hard.