Girl abandoned by parents for her looks wants to prove the world wrong – now she models for Vogue

Having your parents around your childhood gives you a feeling of safety.

If you are forced to grow up without parental presence or knowing your parents abandoned you, there is a chance you might grow up feeling some sort of resentment towards your parents.

Xueli Abbing is a 16-year-old born in China who was abandoned at birth by her parents. She was left at the door of an orphanage and the identity of her parents was not known in the slightest.

She was named by the staff at the orphanage, the ‘Xue’ in her name means snow while ‘Li’ means beautiful. She was named this because she was born with albinism.

Albinism is a genetic condition that leads to reduced pigment melanin in a person and causes their skin, hair, and eyes to be pale.

She was adopted by a family in the Netherlands who provided her with a loving home. When she was 11 years old, she was asked by a designer in Hong Kong to model for him for a shoot where he wanted to portray various kinds of beauty.

“She called the campaign ‘perfect imperfections’ and asked if I wanted to join her fashion show in Hong Kong,” Abbing said in an interview to the BBC. “That was an amazing experience,” she added.

People with albinism are discriminated against in various parts of the world. In some instances, they are even ‘hunted’ because of the false belief that their bones have medicinal properties. “I’m lucky I was only abandoned,” Abbing has said.

At times even models with albinism can be used as props to depict angels or ghosts, about which, Abbing says, “It makes me sad.”