Watch: touching video of conjoined twins successfully separated in China

In a groundbreaking event, conjoined twins, Yu Ce Yuan and Yu Ce Xiang - known as James and Harley, have been successfully separated following a 12-hour operation in China at the Children's Hospital of Fudan University in Shanghai.

The five-month-old twins were joined at the pelvis and shared a liver. Their parents did not know they were conjoined, until the day they were born. Not having enough money to take their twins for an operation, the parents were helped by the Love Without Boundries charity organisation. The charity managed to raise about 60,000 dollars, which was needed for the operation.

"We are very thankful for each kind-hearted person's help," the parents said in a YouTube video.

Before the operation took place, the 20-year-old parents Yu Dang and Zhou Li, shared their fears with reporters.

"We are scared that the doctor will come out and ask us to choose between one or the other," the parents said in the video.

Though the twins have been successfully separated, doctors expressed concerns over the twins' quality of life after the operation.

"They will face big challenges. The first is urination," one doctor said in the video.

"And we must make them able to control their defecation. And the last step is to ensure they have the ability to have children. This is a huge challenge," she added.

The mother has big dreams for her two sons. 

"In the future? I hope they can become doctors. Because if there hadn't been doctors, they wouldn't have the life they have now. So I hope they can become doctors and look after sick people," she said.