Chris Zou had just broken up with her boyfriend when she learned she was pregnant. She shared the news with him and, despite his opposition, decided to raise the baby alone.
Three years later, Zou is blazing a legal trail for China's growing number of single moms.
Zou, 43, works at a multinational company in Shanghai. She has managed to provide for her son Xinxin alone and has navigated the complex process of getting him identity papers.
But she has so far been unable to make a claim for her employer-provided maternity insurance.
Local authorities told her she could not lodge a claim without providing a marriage certificate and the father's information details.
Believing single mothers had the right to make the claim, Zou sued the local government last year.
"I found no mothers like me had taken it to court before, so I thought I should do it," she said.
China's laws surrounding children born out of wedlock are contradictory.
The marriage law prescribes that children like Xinxin enjoy the same rights as those born to married couples.
But at the same time, the population and family planning law imposes a fine on unmarried parents for violating the country's population control rules.
The social insurance law dictates that mothers are entitled to their employer-provided maternity insurance, but women are required to provide proof of childbearing status from the government, which is impossible to obtain without a marriage certificate.
Last year, Zou sued the Jinyang subdistrict office in Shanghai, which is responsible for issuing the proof of childbearing status.
She also sued the municipal social insurance center, which had declined her claim on the grounds that she could not provide the required paperwork.
Both cases failed, and Zou also lost a later appeal. In July she applied for a retrial at the Shanghai Supreme People's Court, which has accepted her application.
"The possibility of a reversal is very low but, to me, it's not about winning back the money any more. It's about improving awareness of moms like me," Zou said.
"I think as long as the maternity insurance premiums are paid, women should have the right to make a claim when having a child, no matter if the child is born within marriage or not, or even if she's a surrogate mother.
"During all the court hearings, no one has actually dared to say that having children without being married is illegal. I therefore have always believed I am correct."
It's not about winning back the money any more. It's about improving awareness of moms like meChris Zou, single mother
Zou's persistence has won her wide public support, with the hashtag "unmarried mother refused claim of maternity insurance" a trending topic on Weibo, China's version of Twitter, in recent weeks.
As Chinese women become more educated and financially independent, a growing number of them are seeking to have children without getting married.
But the Chinese state, which regards traditional families as building blocks of a harmonious society, is still against the idea of women having babies on their own.
There are no official numbers because the data is hard to collect, with many hiding their status to avoid getting fined.
Experts say it is time the government considered the rights of unmarried parents and their children.
"Many people may desire to be in relationships and to have kids, but not marriage," said Hu Zhan, a sociology professor from Fudan University. "As more Chinese people get rich, they don't need financial support from a partner to raise a child by entering marriage."
Lu Xiaoquan, a women's rights lawyer from the Beijing-based Qianqian Law Firm, said the current population control law has infringed on the human rights of children born to unwed parents and should be amended to promote equality.
"It (single parenting) hasn't done any harm to the country, society or any individual. So there's nothing illegal about it," Lu said.
While China's unmarried parents wait for legal change, society's attitudes towards them have progressed ahead of the law.
Zou was exempted from paying a fine by the local cadres, who are more lenient than they used to be on single mothers.
But the absence of a legal father may present problems for Xinxin down the track.
"I heard that if one day he wants to study abroad, a notarization of birth which needs both parents' information would be required, and if he wanted to work in a domestic government agency, he would not pass the political background check," Zou said.
"But overall, I feel fine. I don't worry a lot."
As for herself, Zou does not exclude the possibility of marriage. "It's not that I hate marriage. I would consider it when there's a right person. But I know the chances are very slim," she said.
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