Li Shuhao (back, center) poses for photo with friends in rural areas of southwest China's Yunnan Province. (Photo provided by the author)
BEIJING, Aug. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- It is never Li Shuhao's first intention to win all applause from the public when he left the hustle and bustle in metropolitans to become a volunteer teacher in the rural areas of southwest China's Yunnan Province in 2014.
The 25-year-old Li is a China Foreign Affairs University undergraduate and graduate of Chinese University of Hong Kong and has always been a quiet and low-profile young man.
I still remember his dream: upon graduation from China Foreign Affairs University, he wanted to go back to his hometown in southwest China's Chongqing and run a bookstore where he could read quietly, "because I don't like to talk."
As the saying goes, it never rains but it pours. When the quiet “reader boy” began to talk, he outshone many others.
His story began to flow in 2015 when a letter of his went viral among his classmates and friends in which he recalled his experience as a volunteer teacher for the nonprofit program “Teach for China” at Wuyin Middle School in Yunnan's Weishan Yi Autonomous County. He was then only teaching English for four months at two classes of Grade 8.
"They are as intelligent as those living in cities, but cannot make full use of their potentials due to limitations by the mountainous geology and poverty," wrote Li.
His distress and compassion could be felt from within the lines when he wrote about how his students lived and studied. The re-post of the article began to pass on his wishes to collect postcards from across the world and receive more book donations.
"When we harangue about international relations and foreign policies, there are a group of people who live in a way different from what I know," Li said. "I knew I have to actually see China in a more down-to-earth way. I wanted to challenge myself, to live differently.”
Wuyin Middle School is located on the hillside, with a total student population of 1,061. The enrollment rate to senior high school is only around 30 percent, meaning many more quit studying after junior high school.
Many of Li's students are “left-behind” children cramming in the poorly-facilitated dormitory, with little parental care and even less passion for studies.
Li said the first few weeks were tough for him as a newcomer and he tried different ways to get closer to the students, including responding to their diaries every week and purchasing more stationeries and books.
Li's teaching went beyond books and examinations. In 2015, he held a 10-day summer camp titled "My Summer! Go Better!" with some 60,000 yuan he raised through WeChat. Sixty-six students at Wuyin High School participated in the summer camp which covered different courses including community visits and drama workshop under Li's design.
With another 60,000 yuan raised, Li realized another ambitious goal in July to take 15 students to tour in Beijing to broaden their horizon.
"If all that I've accomplished after two years were improved examination scores, I would totally feel regretful. I don't want my students to only progress in grades not in life," Li noted.
Even so, he did proudly boast on his WeChat the moment that his student made it to the top score in this year's senior high entrance examination in Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan.
"No matter where my students are going to be in the future, be they in senior high or not, I hope they can all remember our class slogan to stay honest, brave and kind and keep striving for their life goals. I hope they will not be restrained by routinism limitations and can stay free forever," Li said.
Now serving as director for teacher education and support for “Teach For China” in the county, his romantic education dream can hopefully live on.
