One surgery was for a girl with a severe cleft palate. Other kids called her "monster".

She'd lived in such a remote area that she was amazed when she first rode an escalator in Beijing. She was shocked by the "stairs that move themselves".

A friend paid to fly her home after the surgery. She was amazed because she didn't know that planes flew above the clouds. And she said: "They fly above the clouds! Above the clouds! And I'm flying above the clouds! I feel like an angel! I'm closer to heaven!"

She was no longer a "monster".She felt like an angel. And I, too, felt closer to heaven.

My book, Closer to Heaven, published in English and Chinese by China Intercontinental Press, is the capstone of my life's mission to contribute to and tell the story of China's poverty alleviation miracle from the front lines.

It's not your typical China book.

I discover unexpected dimensions while riding ostriches, visiting leprosy villages and exploring virtual reality parks run by farmers.

I talk about sexual rehab with people left paralyzed by quakes, meet Hero Pig and eat horse intestines with an elderly nomad who hunts with eagles on horseback.

I join the "bangbang army", ride hogs with an elderly motorcycle club and much, much more.

These journeys have been adventures. They've brought me from the darkness of the quake zone toward the light, from the United States to the "roof of the world" and closer to heaven.

And they've been a firsthand exploration of how China, in turn, has lifted so many people from the hell that is poverty and closer to heaven, as it exists on this Earth.

Contact the writer at erik_nilsson@chinadaily.com.cn