24 years ago, 15 college graduates
Say goodbye to teachers and parents
Got on a train to the west of the motherland
They will go all the way west
Through Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi
Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai
Then go north to Xinjiang
Travel through the Taklamakan Desert......
On this trip, they are not going to teach for a short time
It's not about tourism or experiencing life
Instead, they carried their bags and their hukou
Prepare to take root deep into the desert
- Known as the "small city on the edge of the sky".
Teaching and educating people in Jimo County, Xinjiang
In 2000, 15 graduates of Baoding College who were about to go to Xinjiang to teach took a group photo in front of their alma mater (formerly Baoding Normal College).
These 15 graduates are from Baoding University
Most of them were born and raised
The more fertile land of Yanzhao
But he is not afraid of the pain of wind and sand, and the distance of the road
In Xinjiang and Mo County
The three-foot podium has been standing on the stage for more than 20 years
It is affectionately called by the local people
"The teacher who can't be blown away by the wind"
Because you need to, choose
March 2000
Xinjiang Jimo County No. 2 Middle School to Baoding College recruitment
Nearly 200 people enthusiastically registered
15 outstanding fresh graduates reached the intention of signing the contract
This time the contract was signed
It's not a short period of months or two or three years
Rather, it means to be
Take your household registration book and go there to put down roots
In 2000, Xinjiang and Mo County recruited students from Baoding University, and students enthusiastically signed up
At that time some of them had
Passed the special exam
Someone has already been contacted
Stable and well-paying job
But without exception, they chose Jimo, who was far away in the depths of the desert
Many people make decisions without the help of their parents
Li Guizhi was an outstanding graduate of the provincial level that year
Many key middle schools in Hebei Province want to sign contracts with her
But she chose to be the end
This was previously connected to Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei Province
I have never been to Baoding Dingzhou girl
I want to see the outside world
The mother did not want her daughter to go that far
I spent the whole summer in a cold war with her
On the day of departure
Li Guizhi walked out of the house with his luggage
Mother said something later:
"Here, write a letter."
Li Guizhi's tears burst out of his eyes in an instant
She didn't dare look back
With an "um" sound, he set off
Li Guizhi
Another provincial outstanding graduate, Wang Jianchao
Since childhood, he has longed for the western part of the motherland
Graduation is approaching
I heard that schools in Xinjiang are coming to recruit
Wang Jianchao ran all the way
Find your then-boyfriend
Today's husband Wang Weijiang
An employment agreement was signed together
There are also Su Pu, Pang Shengli, and Hou Chaoru
Jing Huifang, Zhou Zhengguo, Zhu Yinghao
Ding Jianxin, Chen Rongming, Yang Guangxing, etc
They have their own reluctances
But they all have the same persistence
In August 2000, students from Baoding University took a group photo on the way to Xinjiang
On the eve of the Spring Festival in 2024
The reporter is in Xinjiang and the end
I met most of them
More than 20 years of desert sand
Make them look a little more vicissitudes than their peers
Looking back
They understand their parents' concerns
But he didn't regret his choice
Youth is not far from mountains and seas!
Except for the call from afar
There are also those who impress Li Guizhi
A sentence from Duan Jun, the principal of the No. 2 Middle School in Jimo County at the time:
"We have a very short supply of teachers there."
At that time, Li Guizhi thought
Wouldn't it make more sense to be a teacher in Xinjiang?
Pang Shengli is his father's favorite youngest son
Although he went and the end of his father was very reluctant
But still in the letter he said:
"Don't mention the word 'unfilial piety' in the future
You've arrived where the motherland needs you
Now we call on the people of the whole country to go there and develop it
You are the vanguard of the Motherland
It's good. ”
A letter from his father to Pang Shengli
Like fifteen seeds scattered at the end of the seed
At 5 o'clock in the morning, the reporter was still in Hebei
It was 5 p.m
is already walking on the street of the county seat
There are many high-rise buildings and bustling shopping malls
Kunlun Square, museums
Modernity is everywhere
If it weren't for the way to the sand control station
Occasionally, sheep crossing the road can be seen
It's really unpalatable
This is the end of the "small city on the edge of the sky" in Xinjiang
Today, the beautiful and tidy campus of the No. 1 Middle School in Jimo County
But 24 years ago
Hou Chaoru, Li Guizhi, Zhou Zhengguo
From Baoding to the end, I walked for 5 days and 4 nights
And the end of what they have seen
It's a different story
Liu Shibin, then secretary of the Youth League Committee of the school, was appointed by the school
Escort 15 graduates all the way to the end
Reminiscing about that difficult journey
He has been impressed so far:
It was a green train, crowded and stuffy
Arrived in Korla
Then transfer to a car and enter the Taklamakan Desert
Opened for two days and one night
In August 2000, Ding Jianxin held the banner of "Teaching in the West", and a group of 15 graduates arrived at the end of the year
Along the way, the students became more and more silent
Although I was mentally prepared for a long time
But the hardships in Xinjiang are beyond their imagination
See the humble school with the walls peeling off
Take a bite of noodles that are full of sand
They really know where they are
This was what the classroom used to look like
didn't wait for them to adjust their emotions
God gave them a dismount
The sandstorm is coming!
Without warning, the sky went dark
The yellow sand is like a wall, and the black pressure surrounds it
Visibility is only a dozen meters
There is a choking earthy smell everywhere
Experienced this thrilling first
They just understood
Why did Principal Duan Jun say
And the last wind can "blow" a few teachers
Full of passion and dreams
15 people came here
Didn't back down because of a sandstorm
Because, that year
The second middle school of the county
7 classes for the new semester
There was only one class teacher
The school decided to put the most important stage
Give it to this new group of young people
After 15 people tried to speak
6 people directly became class teachers
I didn't become a class teacher
Basically, one person leads 7 classes
Someone in addition to taking classes in this specialty
We have to fill vacancies wherever they are
15 young people
Like fifteen seeds were sown at the end of the nest
Together with a local teacher
It supported the teaching of the No. 2 Middle School in Jimo County
The choice can be a moment of passion and enthusiasm
Persistence requires the spirit of being down-to-earth and hard-working
And the end of that time
Extremely strong sandstorms every year
There are about 16 days
The weather in Yangsha was as high as more than 60 days
One-third of the day of the year is shrouded in dust
Often after a sandstorm
Half a bucket of soil can be removed from the house at a time
At the end of the year, the average annual precipitation was less than 20 mm
The evaporation capacity is as high as 2500 mm
The extent of the drought can be imagined
Hou Chaoru recalled:
Frequent nosebleeds when I first came here
I had a nosebleed in class
Nosebleeds can also occur suddenly in your sleep.
On the platform of parting that year
They all said they wanted to go home often
But in reality, most people go home only a handful of times
Go and end
Pang Shengli and his father agreed to write a letter every month
Letters are usually sent at the beginning of the month
It was already more than ten days later when my father received it
Hou Chaoru and Li Guizhi both confessed
In fact, everyone has thought about leaving
But everyone was reluctant
Winter 2003
A teacher in Hou Chaoru's class is leaving
Several colleagues went to see him off
The students somehow got the news
We made an appointment and rushed to the station
The departing teacher wept silently in the car
The children waved their hands and burst into tears
On the way back
One student asked, "Teacher, are you leaving?" ”
Look at the reluctant eyes of the students
They replied firmly:
"If the teacher doesn't leave, the teacher will grow up with you!"
A sentence "the teacher does not leave"
They really gave themselves
All the hard work and
The most precious youth
Although Xin Zhongqi suffered from skin diseases, he was always reluctant to leave
For the sake of teaching
Xin Zhongqi has paid more than just hard work and wisdom
After suffering from "pityriasis rubra pilaris".
Doctors advised him to live in a place with a humid climate
But he was never willing to leave
Now, the red spots on his head
The hairline has been oozing
Half of the skin on his body has also turned red
Zhou Zhengguo and Liu Qingxia
And to the seventh year of the end
Zhou Zhengguo met Liu Qingxia, a girl from Baoding
After the two got married
Liu Qingxia, who is also a teacher, quit her job in her hometown
Follow Zhou Zhengguo to Xinjiang to teach
Because there were no recruitment places at the end of the year
Liu Qingxia could only go to Tacheng
A place 1,700 kilometers away from the end of the road
Back then, it took two days for the two to meet
The child wants Zhou Zhengguo
On the road, I saw my uncle wearing glasses
Just chased and shouted Dad
The stories of the teachers touched many people
Li Chunlei, a well-known reportage writer, is one of them
For the creation of the full-length reportage "The Direction of Youth"
He went with reporters to do the last interview
Li Chunlei (second from left) and Zhou Zhengguo's family are at the end of the day in Xinjiang
While listening to Zhou Zhengguo tell their story
Li Chunlei felt incredible
I couldn't help but ask:
"Your situation in Xinjiang
The family doesn't know? ”
"I didn't tell my family, for fear that they would worry."
The answer of two people
To put it mildly, it's a lot of words
Until the child is three years old
Liu Qingxia was transferred to teach at the end of the year
The family is finally reunited
The couple said:
"I have contributed to the education of both places in Xinjiang,
I feel quite proud. ”
On the other side of the desert is the sea
"Guizhi, have you ever seen the sea?"
"No, we use the desert as the sea"
2014
Teachers of Baoding College
A special gift was prepared for Li Guizhi
Took her to the beach
Since then
Li Guizhi teaches a new class of students every time
will all ask the same question:
"What's on the other side of the desert?"
Look at the children's confused eyes
She would tell the students
On the other side of the desert is a vast and boundless sea of stars
Waiting for them to explore and pursue
Li Guizhi gave up that year
The opportunity to work in several key middle schools in Baoding
Come to the end
She puts all her energy into teaching
The language results of the class taken in the first semester
It has increased from an average of more than 50 points to more than 80 points
to the third year of the end
They brought out the first graduates
It has set a new record for the school's high school entrance examination
And the hat of the "old end" of education was taken off
2010
Jing Huifang's class is 29 people
All of them are admitted to undergraduate colleges
Among them, 18 were admitted to key universities
Created in the history of the county
Best grades
Li Guizhi (center) with students
The area of the county is similar to that of Anhui Province
However, the population is only about 70,000 people
There are a lot of them who are
Students taught by teachers from Baoding College
Initially, they always educate the children
Be sure to go to the wider world
In recent years, they have encouraged students
Go out to gain knowledge and practice skills
Then come back and build your hometown
Because the development of the hometown needs more talents
With Xin Zhongqi's encouragement, he dispelled the idea of dropping out of school
In the end, Saimaijiang was successfully admitted to the university
Now he is the vice principal of the No. 6 Primary School in Jimo County
Yang Fang, a student of Pang Shengli
After graduating from Xinjiang Normal University
Resolutely give up better employment opportunities
I chose to teach at the No. 2 Middle School in Jimo County
Same as Pang Shengli
Become an ideological and political teacher
Talking about the reason for coming back
She just said softly:
"Because the teacher is here."
Group photo of the western teaching group of Baoding University. In 2015, they won the "China Youth May Fourth Medal Collective"
For more than 20 years
They were cultivated for the Motherland
More than 9,000 high school graduates
More than 500 of them were taken
Fudan University, China University of Political Science and Law
China University of Geosciences, Minzu University of China
Beijing Institute of Technology and other national key colleges and universities are admitted
More than 3,300 students returned to their hometowns
Worked as a doctor, teacher, police officer, etc
Build your hometown side by side with the volunteer teaching group
For 24 years
They are loved by the students
Trusted by the local people
also gained his own love and career
They are even more convinced
This is the place where you can best realize the value of your life
The first arrival and the last time
They don't make stoves
Students roll up their sleeves to help them
I had a nosebleed in class
Students will pull out crumpled pieces of paper for them to wipe off
Lack of vegetables for cooking
The students brought them the vegetables they had grown at home
Sometimes it's secretly left at the door
Silent ......
Musa Toheti's two daughters were both students of Hou Chaoru and Pang Shengli, and they have been close to each other for many years
In the more than 20 years of working and living
They have formed a family-like friendship with students and parents
Li Guizhi walked on the street
Men, women and children all came up to say hello
Affectionately shout "Mr. Li"
Let her feel it more and more
The nobility and glory of this profession
For more than 20 years, the other country has been a hometown
And the end is surrounded by sand on three sides and faces mountains on one side
In order to prevent desert invasion
Every year, they plant trees with the people of Jima
In 2011, Hou Chaoru took students to the desert to plant trees
They have witnessed the change of the end
And proud to be a part of it
Today, the average number of sandstorms has dropped to 13 days at the end of the year
The sand weather has also been reduced to 36 days
Floating dust weather dropped to 112 days
Precipitation increased to 24.5 mm
And the end of the desert
Hundreds of acres of crown flowers are blooming
On the Gobi Desert
Flocks of goose-throated gazelles frolicking and running......
Their native accent has not changed
But "we Xinjiang" and "we are the last"
Always blurted out inadvertently
They weren't used to it when they first arrived
Lamb, mixed noodles, pilaf
Nowadays, most of them can cook delicious Xinjiang food
They say that now life
Live a full and happy life
It is the fertile soil of the west that nourishes and achieves itself
They are not only builders of the West
It is also a beneficiary of the development of the western region
Different generations, same choice
This year, among the new graduates of Baoding College
Another 15 people are about to teach in Xinjiang
Most of them were born after 2000
The West is changing with each passing day
Care from all walks of life
The brothers and sisters are rooted in the west
The value of life and the echo of happiness realized
Let them have less worries and more confidence
The family also has a choice for them
Very supportive
Since 2003
Since the implementation of the program for college students to volunteer in the western region
There are already more than 500,000 in the country
Those who have ideals, dare to take responsibility, can endure hardships, and are willing to struggle
Volunteers of the Western Project pack their bags
Resolutely devote himself to the fiery practice at the grassroots level
When the Motherland needs it
We are young
This is the most romantic thing in the world
The happiest two-way run
Source: People's Daily