In the name of love, walking in the light
In April 2023, Mr. Ding, one executive of Zhaotai Group, accompanied by the other three people from the Group, went to Daliangshan, Sichuan, to visit Zhaotai Primary School and Niuniuba Town Middle School. The delegation visited local students and volunteer teachers; held the “Zhaotai Scholarship” awarding ceremony; donated more than 300 books and set up the “Zhaotai Primary School Reading Corner”; visited students from poor families on the spot; recorded the beautiful scenery and customs along the way in Daliangshan with cameras, together with the profound changes in local education after Zhaotai Group joined the Soma Charity Foundation’s Public Aid Program for Students.
Origin of love
In May 2021, when Zhaotai Group learned that the basic education in Meigu County, Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, was generally weak and needed to be improved urgently, it sent a special working group to Daliangshan to visit and investigate the local education, afterwards without delay deciding to make contribution to build a primary school in Naizuku Village, Erhe Township, Meigu County. The original site of Naizuku Primary School is located on the southeast side of Erhe Township, Meigu County, Liangshan Prefecture, of an altitude of 2,365 meters. The village cement road only goes to part of the village, and it is a rural broken one with no transit vehicles on it. Naizuku Primary School was established in the 1980s, its original school building being only an earthen house covering an area of about 100 square meters, which became a dilapidated house due to long-term damage.
The Group overcame adverse conditions such as rainy season, inconvenient traffic and shortage of construction materials to successfully complete and put into use Zhaotai Primary School in just over 5 months, directly benefiting more than 200 local students. Such move has fundamentally improved the difficult learning environment for children, solved the problem of local children’s difficulty in going to school, improved the office and living conditions of teachers, and ensured the orderly progress of basic education. Since then, Zhaotai Group has also set up "Zhaotai Scholarship" in Zhaotai Primary School, which is used to reward and subsidize poor students excellent in character and learning. Meanwhile, since 2021, Zhaotai Group has donated to a total of 110 students from poor families in Niuniuba Town Middle School in Meigu County, allowing children in the deep mountains to continue their studies.
New school buildings, new look, and new atmosphere.
When the delegation, after driving five hours along the winding mountain road, arrived Zhaotai Primary School, all teachers and students greeted them in full dress. Led by the principal, the delegation visited the newly-built school building and teacher office area of Zhaotai Primary School.
The three-story teaching building accommodates students of six grades. The school’s area for indoor teaching, outdoor activity and dining is designed in a reasonable and standardized manner, providing a good learning environment for children. When completed, Zhaotai Primary School has been not just the first ever reinforced concrete building, but the tallest and most beautiful modern building in the area, too.
The sound of reading attracted us into the classroom, where the volunteer teachers were patiently helping the children with their homework. The school supplies and daily necessities in the classroom are neatly arranged, the classrooms warm and tidy after the hands-on arrangement of the volunteer teachers and their students. The principal introduced the results of Zhaotai Primary School to us—the results of the sixth grade ranked first among the three types of schools in the countryside. After the volunteer teachers were stationed in Zhaotai Primary School, the students' performance and spirit have been greatly improved. They can speak fluent Mandarin, greet visitors kindly and politely, they are sunny, confident, cheerful, grateful, disciplined, ideal and dreamy.
Love goes both ways
Knowing that we had come from afar, the teachers and students of Zhaotai Primary School presented us with the Soma flower, the most beautiful flower, as Yi people see it. Soma flowers grow in the cold place, and only in the deepest mountains can their figure be seen. The teachers and students picked them for us over the mountains, such bunches of Soma flowers being the most beautiful blooming from kindness and simplicity.
When we visited the Hope Class and Sunshine Class students at Niuniuba Township Moddle School to deliver gifts of love, we received an enthusiastic response from the students, and each of whom made beautiful gifts with their own hands to express their gratitude. On behalf of Zhaotai Group, Mr. Ding encouraged the children to study hard and achieve their life aspirations through their own efforts.
It’s no less than a faint light, making a torch into the sunshine—visiting the volunteer teachers
Principal Xie Yingqi, a volunteer teacher at Zhaotai Primary School, has been teaching here for four years. He not only teaches the children the knowledge in textbooks, he is but also a guide to the children, opening a window of hope for them. He has made countless home visits to convince parents to send their children back to school so that no child has been left behind. He knows very well that reading was the best shortcut for children to get out of the mountains. Mr. Xing Mingming, a volunteer teacher at Niuniuba Township Middle School, will give the children individual tuition on weekends. He has been here for six years.
Volunteer teaching is an indispensable part of basic education, where a group of young people, who have traveled to the green mountains with kindness, are rooted in Daliang Mountain, believing in education to change the world, and adhering to the ideal in the difficult environment, the tiny firefly willing to shine. They have planted a seed in their hearts and let it grow.
Great love, warm and silent
Burdening social responsibility and practicing public welfare for warmth. In the 30 years of development of Zhaotai, charity has always been under way. Trickle into the sea, and the accumulation of small good into great love. Zhaotai Group has good intentions to do good deeds, and to use the power of public welfare to cultivate the hearts of children. This force not only warms the mind of the children and changes the local education, but also brings new hope to the mountain villages and a brighter future to Daliang Mountain. Zhaotai Group will keep a watchful eye on the development of education in poor mountainous areas, so that love and hope will last forever!
