67-year-old Chinese retiree becomes lawyer

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02:10

As many people will tell you, it's never too late to learn.

A 67-year-old man, the oldest candidate in Beijing to sit the National Judicial Examination, nearly lost hope after six failed attempts at the qualifying exam.

"I was born in 1952. I spent time working in China's countryside, then went to college. Then I worked for different companies. Earlier this year, I became an apprentice lawyer," said Lyu Tiema, an apprentice lawyer at Jingrun & Partners.

Lyu spent seven years preparing for the National Judicial Examination after retiring at the age of 60. Despite failing the exam six times, he never lost hope.

"Every time I failed and saw the results, my heart sank. I was extremely distraught, but I kept being optimistic," Lyu said. 

As the saying goes – if at first, you don't succeed, try again.  Lyu woke up at three o' clock every morning to study. He read almost 3.6 million words of teaching materials from 15 different legal departments. At the same time, he exercised virtually every day to stay healthy and fit. He says the hardest part was remembering everything he studied.

"I can't memorize (the materials) as other people do, so I have to understand them. I have to look at them often and read them again and again, to commit them to memory," Lyu said.

All the hard work eventually paid off. Lyu passed the test on the seventh try. The key to his success is faith.

"Some people say 'I'm already 50 or 60, what should I learn?' These are old ways of thinking; don't believe them," said Lyu.