From The Southern Weekend (in Chinese), translated By Joseph McMullin, via Press Interpreter:
Even before the first rays of sunlight reach the tops of the trees, you enter the school alone. Like most village schools, you are the only teacher for several grades.
By yourself, you split firewood and light a fire in the stove”your face reflects the gentle light of the flames. The classroom begins to warm up. Students enter in two’s and three’s, their faces are pure and filled with joy”like the morning sun. Morning after morning, you go through the same motions. Year after year, you help raise group after group of students.
You sometimes feel completely alone”but you are not.
Students well know that the “kindness of teachers is solid like mountains.” Your small 40 yuan [US $5] monthly stipend is nothing when compared to the twenty or so years of hard work which blend together in your mind to become almost a single day. The students you have taught, have entered the city, found profitable jobs, and yet you find yourself scraping to pay for your child’s tuition. However, you still smile as you send young students off to attend colleges. You and the other six hundred thousand teachers influence the lives of a total of twelve million students who live in poor rural areas of central and western China. Throughout their whole lives they will never forget your name.
