Teaching At Yaping（Online Version）

Alice

Preface

Almost 30 years have passed since I left China in 1989. I have visited China nearly every year in the last 20 years, where I spent time with my parents in Beijing for a short period during each visit. However going to a village named Yaping in northwestern part of China and doing some volunteer work in an elementary school was quite a new experience to me during the last few years of these visits. As the Chinese saying goes, "Writing about the experience is better than having a good memory of it." This article's goal is to share, in writing and picture, some of my most memorable experiences in the two years I acted as a volunteer at Yaping. Even though my achievements are few, what appear to be trivial experiences can have quite a valuable and lasting impression. These experiences have given me a lot of happiness and will forever be remembered and cherished.

I am a firm believer there are always reasons for the things that happen or will happen. As an outsider to the village and to the area around it, I was shocked at many observed occurrences that I did not understand completely or not at all. Please forgive me if there are some comments made that may be construed wrongly or improperly in this article. In addition, I will defer from mentioning the actual names of people in the village associated with my observations. However, I can assure you their stories are real.

The purpose of this article is to present a document that walks through and shares these rewarding experiences of my two years spent at Yaping, with friends who truly care about me. From my extensive documentation, I have attempted to select only a small fraction of my most memorable photographs of the beautiful children and adults living in this village.

Chapter 1

Photo 1: in front of Apple Headquarter

I quit my job at Apple on October 31st, 2014. I had to wait for one month before I could finish transferring my 401K account and signing up for the COBRA medical insurance plan with Apple. On November 30th, 2014 I took a flight from San Francisco to Beijing, arriving the next day, on December 1st, 2014.

I didn't have a winter coat since it was never cold in California. The place I was going to was much colder, even colder than Beijing (below zero centigrade). I was planning to fly Yan'an, the city which has the nearest airport to Yaping village, on December 4th, 2014. In planning, I had to buy coats and some other necessary supplies in two days before my journey. I also had to sign up for a local cell phone plan in China and found China Unicom had a better monthly payment plan with free roaming. I had to watch my budget since I didn't have a paying job anymore. The cell phones I used in US were from Apple and I returned them all when I resigned. Being on a restrictive budget, I bought a Chinese brand 4G phone, Xiao Mi, at the price of 1300 Chinese Yuan, which was about $194. This phone supported WCDMA and GSM1900 so that it could also be used in US.

Photo 2: Yan'an Airport, small, but nearest to the Yaping village

My friends were always helpful. One friend knitted a woolen scarf for me and another ordered on line a pair of boots delivered to my parents' apartment in Beijing. I bought myself a down coat in Beijing and also got woolen sweaters and a set of thermals in hand. Those were felt adequate for the cold winter I would experience in the northwestern part of China.

On December 4th, 2014, I flew to Yan'an to start my new life.

Chapter  2

Yapping is a medium-size village located in Zichang County, Yan'an City, Shaanxi Province. More than 40 years ago, right after I graduated from high school, I went to Yaping with four other schoolmates and settled down in the village. We worked in the field and lived in the same way as the local villagers. I lived there for approximately two and a half years.

Photo 3: Photo taken in 1976 at Yaping in front of the house where we lived. I am the one on the far left.

Photo 4: On top of one mountain at Yaping planning the village's future in 1976. I am the third from the left.

Compared to people who moved to that area from Beijing in 1969 and stayed there for many years, the two-and-a-half year time was not considered long. But I will never forget the barren plateau, endless ravines, and deep poverty and, of course the nice people there. Despite the hard life the villagers experienced, they were so nice to youths like us, coming from the big city, Beijing.

I was fortunate to enroll Beihang University in September 1978 after the universities were reopened to the general public. After four years in Beihang for my bachelor degree, I went to Tsinghua University for my master degree, and then attended the University of London, England in 1989, where I received my PhD at the end of 1992. I then began my engineering career in the USA by working at various Silicon Valley high-tech corporations. During the last twenty years, I have worked for six companies with the last one being Apple Inc. Many years have passed since I left Yaping, but it has always remained in my heart.

Photo 5: In front of the old house we used to live in, taken in 2010

In the summer of 2010, I went back Yaping for a short visit with several of my old comrades and took a picture in front of the house where I used to live.

After returning to the United States, I published two articles in the "Sino Times". In one article, I reminisced about my years after high school at Yaping. The other one presented the travelogue for the trip to Yaping in 2010. At the end of second article I wrote, "I hope that one day I will have time to stay in the village for a while to cure my homesickness. Bye for now and I will come back again." The 2010 trip was too short and I missed Yaping even more. Gradually I had a plan in my mind. My son was expected to graduate from his high school in 2014 and I would be free afterwards to return to the village to stay for a while. What could I do? I didn't have many skills for the village, but I could teach in the village school. That was also my small dream, many years before, when I was at Yaping during 1976 and 1977.

I have tried to undertake my desire to teach by contacting local people in the village since 2013. A friend's husband who was working for the local county has helped facilitate this effort. In the summer of 2014, after participating at a university class reunion in Xi'an, I headed to Zichang by train and visited Yaping School to meet the school principal. Although many villagers still remembered me, I was new to the principal and teachers at the school. A lot has changed since I left Yaping. I was going to go there alone without any organizations on which I could rely. Other questions crept into my mind like: "What would it be like living there again and teaching at the school?" I had no idea, but my passion outweighed any doubt I had regarding these concerns. Sometimes my friends commented that I was a bit bold in undertaking such a move. However, it is a part of my nature to take risks and normally I do not hesitate once I have made decisions.

Mr. Xiaosong Gao from Tsinghua once said in one of his songs, "Life is more than just surviving. There are poems and distant fields to explore." Taking this theme to heart, I put down my current life and went to Yaping to pursue my little dream - my poems and distant fields.

Chapter  3

There were around 30 teachers and 300 students in Yaping Elementary School. Some students lived in the school Monday through Friday during school time since their homes were far away from school, make it too difficult to commute daily to classes. They lived in a dorm with rooms each shared by several students. Some students had no parents living with them since they were working in a different city. For the total student population, approximately 10% of the students came from poor families or those left behind with no parents at home.

Photo 6: The front gate of Yaping Elementary School

Yaping Elementary School was once listed in a project called "Hope Elementary School". Private parties from the city Shenzhen and also the local areas sponsored one three-story building including most of the classrooms for the school through the project.

Photo 7: The sponsored building

Photo 8: One of the students' bedrooms

Photo 9: The head of Yaping Village thanked me by giving me a bouquet of flowers

On the last day of the year, December 31st, 2014, I was invited to a meeting held at the school. Two town officials, some heads of the village and, heads of the school were all at the meeting. Some villagers who were my old time friends also attended the meeting. We exchanged some thoughts regarding the progress at the school during the meeting, also talked about old time friendship. The head of village committee gave me a bouquet of flowers to thank me for my volunteer work at the school.

Photo 10: My office and bedroom

The school principal arranged a multipurpose room for me to use as my office as well as bedroom. One divider was installed to separate the office space and sleeping quarter. The front part of the room was used as my office with one desk and one chair and included a sofa for guests. The back part of the room was used for sleeping that included a hardwood bed with supplied bedding. There was also a simple zippered canvas wardrobe bag that was used to hang up my clothing. These spartan living conditions were certainly sub-standard when compared to those provided in the United States or Beijing. In addition, the building had no indoor bathrooms or available tap water in my room. Since there was no shower room in the entire school, I had to improvise. I had to use a big kettle or bucket to carry water from a water room in the school to my room, where I had several plastic basins as water reservoirs. They were used to wash my body and my clothes. After use, the dirty water had to be carried outside and poured into the water drains within the schoolyard.

From time to time, I would find a way to go to some friends' house in the nearby town to take a shower. Once a friend came to Yan'an for a visit. I went to see him and asked if I could use his hotel bathroom to enjoy a shower. It was a bit awkward and embarrassing but my friend understood the situation I was in at the school. He was very considerate and waited in the hotel lobby until I had the pleasure of such an indulgence.

Despite the poor conditions, the school leaders did their best to provide me whatever I needed. My office was one of the best ones in the school, the same as the principal's one. Others normally shared one office by six teachers. Started from 2nd year, they even provided me a satellite TV in my room.

Photo 11: School kitchen

Photo 12: Kitchen stove

In the school kitchen, there was a big coal-burning stove, the same kind of stove we used 40 years ago, which employed a huge iron pot for making porridge, noodles, mixed vegetables, or boiling hot water. There was a small hole at the front of the stove, where firewood and coal were placed to start a fire. A small pot could sit on the hole to perform some very good country cooking such as stir-fry, etc. The school hired two women from the village to cook for the whole school - teachers and students. I loved the food they prepared, except for some very spicy ones. Potatoes were one of the main foods used locally to prepare dishes for the school. The local people loved eating potatoes, which were sold in big sacks, were inexpensive and could be kept for a long time. Many different dishes were made from potatoes --- yummy! Can you imagine the mashed potatoes mixed with cabbage pickles were put into stuffed buns, which we normally had ground meat in the buns in big cities. When winter started, the school cooks bought a large bunch of cabbages and marinated them in large pickling tanks. The pickles were ready to eat in about one and a half months.

The Chinese government subsidized the rural schools in the Northwest of China. There was a so-called "Egg-Milk Project". During the school year, every student was given one egg and one small carton of milk for free on every school day. In addition, the students did not have to pay for tuitions, meals or accommodations. According to the local people, around six Yuan (RMB) per student per day was given to the school from the Government to cover the daily living cost of the students.

Photo 13: Wild grown edible plants picked on the hills near the school

The plant in Photo 13 is called "bitter grass" in Chinese. Its leaf is similar to toothwort. This plant lives up to its name as it does have a bitter taste, but delicious when used for salad. One of the staff members was from Yaping Village, whom I often followed to the hills to dig up the bitter grass. Bitter grass salad was one of the dishes often seen in the school kitchen. We also went up to the hills to pick up the white flowers from the trees called the Chinese scholar tree (also known as Japanese pagoda tree). These flowers when mixed with steamed potatoes brought special flavors to the culinary dishes prepared by our local cooks.

No one was at the school on weekends except a security guard on duty. Therefore, no cooks were around as well. Because of this situation, I had to find some inventive resource to obtain meals of reasonable quality or starve! My first option was to impose on the security guard, who had a small stove to cook for himself. Initially, the school principal asked him to be kind enough to cook for me during these weekend periods. However, I quickly realized that this arrangement may have placed an undue burden on him and I did not feel good imposing on him. In addition, I became concerned about his personal hygiene and hygiene during the food preparation. It was evident that he was relatively immune to the local food parasites and bacteria, and it was unlikely he would get sick eating his prepared concoctions. He was aware of my concerns and often joked about it. It was necessary that I find more reliable weekend food options.

During the weekend, I discovered a small house outside the school, where there were two women selling food. One was selling mung bean jelly and the other some kind of local bread similar to bagels. On weekends, I often bought the breads for my lunch or dinner for two Yuan each. On other occasions, I went to a small store in the village to buy some instant noodles. The woman who was selling the bread was the mother of a second-grade girl in the school. The mother was illiterate, not knowing how to read and/or write. I often saw her daughter sitting aside her doing homework. Whenever I went there for my bread, I would take a look at her homework and offer my help if needed.

Every once in a while there was a three-wheeled motor truck that came to the village selling fruit. The fruit normally was not fresh and very unappealing. The skins of the apples looked like an old lady's wrinkled face, much worse than the fruit selling in the nearest town. I asked the seller why he did not carry good quality fruit. He said that the higher quality was substantially more expensive and the regular villagers could not afford them. Because of this situation, I often had to go to a distant town to buy fruit having reasonable quality for myself on weekends.

Photo 14: Outhouse in the school

I would have to say that one of my frustrations in Yaping was the lack of basic sanitation facilities at the school and area in general. The sanitation nightmare shown in Photo 14 can only be called an outhouse, not a toilet or bathroom, having no running water. There were no built-in toilets in all the buildings throughout the school. However, there were two rows of toilets behind the school building, where a standing wall separated the male and female facilities. There was neither flushing water nor privacy, but at least it had a concrete floor and was better than those in most houses in the village. The girl students were not used to seeing me use the toilet and some would look at me curiously when I was present. On a number of occasions, they were very polite and always said "hello" to me, however, at quite a loud volume level! Once the boys on the other side of the wall separating the toilet areas heard this, they would start to shout "hello" to me as well, even though they were not able to see me. I was a bit embarrassed by this situation but couldn't help laughing at their pure innocence and naivety. In one instance when I was using the toilet, a little boy, who was chasing a few girls, inadvertently rushed into the women's area. As he shouted, "I caught you!" he immediately realized he was in the wrong place, awkwardly stared at me, and quickly ran out of the area.

There was an outstanding elementary school teacher who shared her similar "bathroom" experiences with us. To resolve any social embarrassment, she asked the students at her school to avoid saying "hello" to teachers when in the toilet area. A simple nod was taught to be enough to show their good manners. My special experience in the countryside in China made me a proud supporter of the so called "toilet revolution".

Photo 15: In front of Silly Fish restaurant

Although written very differently, my friends often called me "little fish", since my last name in Chinese sounds like fish. After coming to Yaping, the village committee treated me at a restaurant named Silly Fish. I found this situation to be quite humorous. Was I just a "little fish", a "silly fish", or just a "little silly"? Coincidence or what? In retrospection, I think, that sometimes acting silly makes a person happier in his/her life.

Chapter  4

The Yaping School had a jam-packed study schedule. Breakfast was at 7:20 am. Class started at 8 am. There were 7 classes per school day, 40 minutes per class having 10 minutes break times between the classes. 

There were 3 normal classes in the morning plus one reading class and one practical math class. Fit into this hectic schedule, at around 10 am, was a group exercise period for the students. A lunch break time of 40 minutes was allocated with no subsequent nap time.

There were 4 classes in the afternoon and the last one ended the school day at 4:10 pm. Students who lived on campus would have free time after 4:10 pm until dinner time at 5:20 pm. Starting at 6 pm the students would do their homework till 7:50 pm. After that the students washed their face and feet, brushed their teeth and prepared to go to bed. The teachers on duty turned off the lights precisely at 8:30 pm.

The school's wake-up and sleep signals were quite interesting and they sounded like those used in military camps. Every time I heard the sounds, they reminded me of my military camp training in high school. Every Monday morning, there was a national flag-raising ceremony in the school where everyone attended. The teacher on duty would give a speech to summarize the activities from the previous week.

Students started learning English in the third grade at Yaping School. I collected all of the English textbooks from grade 3 through 6. At first I attended the English class to listen to the students' development of their speaking skills and also joined events in the English teachers group. I discovered that the students' pronunciation of English words was far from being understandable. Ironically, this problem stemmed from the poor English-speaking skills of the teachers! It was not just an accent problem. I could not tell what they were saying at all!

Although the school supposedly had enough English teachers that had graduated from the universities in China, it would be practically and politically impossible to tell them their English did not make the grade. Because of this situation, I simply could not replace them from their classes. To help correct some of these teaching problems, I developed a program that was outside of the existing student curriculum. This program started from the 2nd grade and gradually covered all grades from grade 1 to grade 6. The program was mainly on listening and speaking via multimedia such as teaching the students English children's songs and letting them watch videos of various children's stories. I had hard time selecting the material for the students since they had a very limited vocabulary. The words used in their textbooks were somewhat different from the words kids in US might use daily. Therefore, I decided that the videos and songs for the kids should be the simpler the better.

In the first semester, I selected the following songs for each grade.

For Grade 5 and 6: We wish you a merry Christmas

(X2)

We wish you a merry Christmas

We wish you a merry Christmas

We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year

Good tidings we bring to you and your kin

Good tidings for Christmas and a happy New Year

(X1)

We wish you a merry Christmas

We wish you a merry Christmas

We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year

For Grade 3 and 4: Polly, put the kettle on

Polly, put the kettle on
Polly, put the kettle on
Polly, put the kettle on
We'll all have tea

Sukey, take it off again
Sukey, take it off again
Sukey, take it off again
They've all gone away

For Grade 2: Rain, rain, go away

Rain, rain, go away
Come again another day
Little Johnny wants to play
Rain, rain, go away

I also included drawing in the program for students learning English as well as having fun at the same time.

Photo 16: Student Drawings generated at my English class, where children learned the names of their family members

Photo 17: Celebrating Christmas with the kindergarten children

Of all the classes, the kindergarten class and its children were my favorite. They were enthusiastic, outgoing, and simply lovely. On Christmas Day 2014, the kindergarten teacher, Miss L, invited me to her class and asked if I would like to join the kids in celebrating Christmas. The spirit of the children during this event was simply wonderful, where they were joyously dancing and singing. Some of them gave me their beautiful drawings as gifts that I will always treasure.

Photo 18: Interacting with the kindergarten kids in class

Photo 19: Teaching in one of the classes

Once I was teaching in a third grade class and two girls were not paying attention to the presentation. I noticed that they were murmuring to each other. I then said, "You should look at me and concentrate on what I am saying." Then I jokingly added, "Even though I am not that pretty!" Another girl named "Little Snow" immediately and loudly quipped, "Ms. Yu, you are the most beautiful teacher." Then a bunch of kids followed her saying, "Yes, you are!" I was so happy to hear that. I guess flattery can work on some occasions!

Photo 20: Giving a speech to the schoolteachers

I was also invited to other schools to teach or give a speech to the teachers and students there.

As I have already mentioned, there was a group exercise period at around 10 am every day. Students would do jogging for a few laps in the schoolyard first, and then do group aerobics following a piece of music. After the aerobics, students would go inside their classrooms and perform some kind of eye exercises, which were said being based on some Chinese Acupuncture Theory. I had the same kind of eye exercises when I was a kid. I haven't seen any American children or adults doing them.

Photo 21: Jogging with the students

The schoolyard was not big so jogging a few laps was no problem for me.

In the second grade class, as always, kids were chatting and shouting before the bell rang. Someone complained about others to me, "Ms. Yu, ......" using the local dialect. In this dialect, the word "teacher" would sound like "the old dead". "Please speak Mandarin at school. You may speak your dialect after school and at home," I said. "I'm not an old dead. I'm old but not dying," I joked.

Photo 22: The second grade class

In the local dialect, the word "wash" sounds like "die". So when the local people say, "You wash first and I will wash after you." It sounds like, "You die first and I will die after you."

Photo 23: A note from a student saying, "I love your English class."

I was giving lecture to the second grade one afternoon. During this time, a boy passed me a small piece of folded paper. It made me feel like I was a very important person and giving a speech as a high level official in China. I opened it and it said, "I love your English class."

Photo 24: A piece of drawing from a girl as a gift

The drawing in Photo 24, which was a gift from one of my students, looks like two lines of a couplet that hangs on a door during the Chinese New Year. The Chinese couplet should be read from top to bottom first and then left to right. This unique drawing when read from left to right and then top to bottom says, "I wish you will be my teacher forever."

Photo 25: My portrait generated from a girl in my class. Dose it look like me?

Photo 26: Students gathered in my room at night reading books

I have brought a lot of English children's picture books donated by the people from the United States. I also purchased some Chinese children's literature books in Beijing. Students living on campus often crowded into my room to read these books. However, over time their visits dwindled until there were no students coming to my office. Initially, I didn't know why but later found out that the teachers didn't want their students to bother me and were told not to come to my room. Even though some teachers placed restrictions on their visitations, children still found ways to sneak into my office. Students became quite adept at hiding themselves once they noticed teachers passing by. Their desire to be with me overrode their fear of being scolded by their teachers.

Photo 27: A kindergartener from a less fortunate family

The girl shown in Photo 27 was from a poor family. One day I went to her class and saw her dancing with other children. However, she was shy and hiding behind others and her face showed a lack of confidence. At this point, I encouraged her to come to the front row of class and took a video of her dancing. The next day when I met her, she gave me a deep bow and said "hello" to me. She had been always exhibited shyness and never said "hello" to me before. From that day forward, she always wore a big smile and greeted me. The experience appeared to make her more confident and happier than I had ever seen before.

Photo 28: Some of my students enjoying a picnic event

Several 5th grade students came to me after the English class with the theme "go on a picnic". "Ms. Yu, would you like to attend a picnic with us on the weekends?" they asked. "Okay, I am more than happy to." I answered. On the following weekend, they brought one bed sheet, raw potatoes, and all kinds of food. They even brought a small basket of coal with them. We found a small flat place at the hillside, collected some local firewood and started to make a fire to cook the potatoes. Unfortunately, before the potatoes were ready to eat, it started to rain. We had to rush back to a house in the village before getting fully wet. Even though the rain curtailed our picnic activities, the children and I had a very good time.

On a spring day in 2016, I returned to Yaping School after a school break and round trip visit to the USA. Early in the morning, two boys from second-grade class camped at the door of my office and loudly chimed, "May I come in?" The students were scheduled to learn English in the third grade according to their curriculum, however, they were only second graders. Ironically, I had taught them this simple sentence during their last semester of the second grade. I was impressed that they had still remembered it. "Come in, please!" I replied. They got in and I asked, "Is there anything I can help you with?" One of the boys showed me a belt. "This is a gift for you!" he said. "Why? Are you trying to bribe me? Is this belt for tightening and holding up my pants at the waist or for hanging someone?" jokingly I asked. When a Chinese says tightening up the belt, it means that a person needs to be frugal due to tight financial situation. The young boy's innocence to my reply led to a puzzled look on his face. Realizing this, I laughed, told him I was joking and asked where he got the belt. The boy said he won the belt as a drawing prize from a street vendor outside the school. Then I said to him, "Ms. Yu does not need this, however, I greatly appreciate your intention that is even a more precious gift to me. Please give this to your mom." The children often gave me gifts they thought had great value. Sometimes they gave me peaches freshly picked from the tree, knowing my desire to enjoy fresh fruit. Sometimes they generously used their pocket money to buy snacks and shared them with me. This sacrifice, they made to give to others, brought me a great deal of happiness - and hidden tears!

Chapter  5

I spent two Christmas' at Yaping School in 2014 and 2015. Although Christmas is not an official Chinese holiday, for Chinese in China, even people in small towns and villages have started to adopt the season as a time of appreciation and celebration. The children used their energy and creativity to make some truly original Christmas cards that they eagerly presented to me. On the cards, the children wrote their best wishes to me. In addition, they gave me apples as a gift on Christmas Eve, which in Chinese tradition indicates a wish that one experiences peace and safety. This is a pure Chinese "wrinkle" that was added to the Christmas celebration.

Photo 29: Christmas cards and small boxes each having one apple inside from the students

Photo 30: Let's make a deal

On the evening of December 23, 2015, several six graders came to my office and said, "Ms. Yu, tomorrow is Christmas Eve. We would like to decorate your office. Will you allow us to do it?" I responded with an emphatic, "Yes, no problem!" One girl was still not so sure about my answer and asked me again by pulling my pinkie and thumbing up together (a sign of true commitment) and said, "Deal? No change for one hundred years!"

Photo 31: Decorations on the wall in my office

The next day, on Christmas Eve, they came as promised and brought their hand-made paper-cuts, drawings, beautiful stickers and colorful balloons to decorate my office. As they were installing the decorations, several boys rushed into my office and said, "Ms. Yu, I have a surprise for you!" One boy said to me. "What is it?" I asked. "I will surprise you later," he answered. I couldn't help to laugh. "You just warned me about it and now it is not going to be a surprise, ha, ha," I joked. "Okay, when I see it, I will be shocked to death!" I then exaggerated my upcoming surprise and pretended to faint. The boys laughed and ran away.

In addition, I received many original student Christmas cards made from their own drawn designs using color pencils. Although I told the students many times not to spend money to buy gifts for me and I highly treasure the ones made by themselves, there were still some kids buying small stuff for me. There were all different kinds of gifts, such as just a few candies, wild fruits picked from trees, or a small carton of milk, which came from the heart. Although simple, these gifts were extremely precious to me and I simply could not refuse to accept them. Otherwise, I would have hurt their feelings.

Since the children didn't have much homework on Christmas Eve, I negotiated with two teachers on duty to allow us to have a party after they finished their homework. As a show of my appreciation, I bought some American candies for them and also got some homemade popcorn from the villagers. We were singing Christmas songs together. The kids played with my iPod/iPad to take photos and videos. It was a memorably happy and wonderful night for all - one I will never forget.

During the Christmas of 2015, among the many greeting cards I received, one card from a fifth-grade girl, which was very impressive. This young girl was quiet and usually did not talk much, however, she drew a colorful and beautiful card for me. When she came to my office to give me her card, she said, "Ms. Yu, here on this card is all I want to say to you."

Photo 32: One special card received by Christmas in 2015

The card read as follows:
"Dear Ms. Yu, I know you are from the United States, so you must pay special attention to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Today is Christmas Eve, but I am very sorry that I don't have special Christmas gift for you for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day except for this greeting card. I know that it is far less than some gold and silver treasures. No matter how well I drew this card, it is still a paper card. But (as Chinese saying goes) sending the goose feather from thousand miles away, the gift is nothing, but shows the deep love. I hope you treat it as a special gift and keep it. Hope you can remember me, Wang Juan. I have seen you dancing in the village square. I found you are easy-going and even more lively and cheerful than our students. I admire you. I respect you. And I wish you all the best!"

I was very touched after reading such a thoughtful and personal Christmas wish for me. In return, I gave her a small gift and also drew a card with color pencils for her that said I would always remember her.

Chapter  6

There was no standard sports field in the school. Nonetheless the school still held the special sports games once a year. Students played real hard to win these games.

Photo 33: Children's game of stomping out their opponent's balloons

Photo 34: Game of tug-of-war between classes

Photo 35: Shuttlecock kicking

Photo 36: Group dancing

The students performed a group dance called "Little Apple" during our school games opening ceremony. Loving children is the number one requirement when working with them. Secondly, all sorts of skills are needed, but I personally didn't have many special skills to offer. I had heard the Little Apple Dance was quite popular in China at the time and people often used it as a form exercise, as well as entertainment. I wanted to introduce this dance to the kids at the school since many of them loved it. However, I didn't dance very often in the past and had to try real hard to learn this dance from others and online videos before I went to Yaping School. I practiced this dance for over two months before I felt confident enough to teach it to the children. During April 2015, as the weather was getting warm, I first taught a young female teacher this dance which she performed better than I did! We decided to teach the kids together and all were enthusiastic to participate. The students practiced every day during exercise time and also after school time. When my high school classmates heard about it, they donated money for the kids' costumes. They dressed beautifully and had a fabulous performance for the school games opening ceremony, which won a big round of applause.

Photo 37: Do they look like future leaders? They were broadcasting reports sent by students during school games.

Photo 38: The last game was a relay performed by two groups of teachers

Chapter  7

During my stay at Yaping, the children had asked me a number of times about my birthday. I was later, flattered and surprised, to find that when my birthday had arrived, the girls sang original songs written by them and the boys recited poem for me. Their thoughtfulness for me will never be forgotten.

Photo 39: Children celebrating my birthday

Photo 40: The children made a birthday card for me

Chapter  8

There were no janitors in the school. Teachers and students took the responsibility to do the job. Sometimes some parents would offer some help as well.

Photo 41: This photo shows two first-graders performing classroom cleaning duty.

Photo 42: Children removing fallen snow from the schoolyard

Photo 43: Students refinishing the classroom's blackboard

Chapter  9

The Yaping School is not very far from the nearby county town. There was a privately operated bus to and from the town, passing by Yaping Village. After the bus left the town, there were no more bus stops. If you wanted to get on, you had to flag down the bus driver and he would stop the bus for you. In a similar way, if you wanted to get off anywhere outside the town, just let the driver know. The locals called it the "Road Vehicle". All of the teachers lived in the town and some had their own cars. Most of them either took the bus or asked for a ride from their colleagues to and from the school. The distance from the Yaping Village to the central part of the town was about length of five bus stops. It might take about 40 minutes to walk to the near end of the town. The bus had to stop several places when it passed through the entire county town. The county town has expanded appreciably compared to the time when I was there in 1976. There used to be only one unpaved road through the town. Now there are many busy streets and people can't tell much difference from a big city. Most of the students did not live at the school and commuted everyday by taking the "Road Vehicle". When they came to school, they came from their homes that were usually located in a more remote area. When school finished for the day, they would take the bus, which came from the town towards the direction of the countryside, back to their home.

They needed to pay 1 Yuan for a one-way bus ride and total 2 Yuan for a daily round trip. This was a large expense for some rural families. After school in the afternoon during weekdays, the bus was usually so crowded with the children that it resembled a packed can of sardines. I often worried about the danger of overloading the bus, especially in poor weather conditions. When it was snowing, the road was slippery and narrow and often the bus would stop operating. This became a big problem for kids going to school. Some parents would take their kids by two-wheeled or three-wheeled motorcycles. During these time periods, the road was dangerous with one side having a deep ravine at random locations.

I often spent my time at school alone on weekends. Sometimes I went to the town to buy some fruits, some daily used stuff or some small gifts to reward the children in the class. The bus was often crowded. If the weather was acceptable, I chose walking over taking the bus to the town. Sometimes during weekends, I would walk around the village and chat with the villagers in their houses.

Photo 44: Children in the village collecting firewood

When I wandered around the village on the weekends, I often encountered some young girls who were running around and/or collecting firewood for their families. I asked if I could take a photo of them. The children were so happy to do so and immediately gathered together. In addition, a little boy ran to the group of girls and said, "I'm in, too."

Photo 45: A pretty girl collecting firewood

Photo 46: Boys climbing on a tree

Boys were more energetic. They climbed trees as flexible and quick as monkeys. I saw they went to steep hills up and down as if they were walking on the flat ground.

Chapter  10

After arriving at the school in December 2014, I was trying to adjust to the bitterly cold weather at Yaping. At the beginning of January 2015, I contracted a bad cold. I was trying not to take any medicine, but it turned out I couldn't get over it for more than two weeks. At this point, a young female teacher brought a cupping jar from her home and performed a Chinese traditional procedure on my back. The jar was made of glass and had a small manual pump attached to a vacuum and suck blood near the surface of skin on my back. While she performed the operation, I was chatting with her and I found out her mother and I were the same age. The difference was that she had married at a much earlier time since this was a common practice in the local area. After this treatment, I finally was successful in recovering from the severe cold.

Unfortunately after overcoming my sickness, I immediately caught a second cold in mid-January! It was evident that my immune system was not strong enough to avoid these afflictions, however, I now knew how to obtain treatment to recover from them. I immediately asked a woman in the village to employ the same Chinese treatment I had previously received. The woman was around my age, but unfortunately illiterate. She told me that she was not allowed to go to school by her family, because she was a girl, and that a number of local girls in the area had suffered the same fate. Even some of the younger women, such as a mother of a second-grader, could not read and write.

One day during this second round of sickness, I was alarmed to find that I had contracted some type of infection since my urine was red. During the daytime, where, I used the school's "dry" toilet, it was difficult to detect whether blood was in my urine. The outdoor temperature was so cold at night, sometimes below zero degrees, that using the outside toilet was impractical. Therefore, I was forced to use a portable basin in my bedroom as a urinal at night. When I had monitored my urine for a few nights and it was still red, I decided to go to the hospital in the nearby town to analyze the problem. A villager took me to the hospital with his car, where I registered with an experienced physician, received an appointment number and waited my turn for treatment. The hospital was crowded with so many patients that there was no privacy when the time to see the doctor arrived. During my appointment, large numbers of patients continued to surround the doctor asking him questions or interrupting him with a flurry of requests. Amidst the chaos, the doctor ordered a urine test for me resulted in confirming blood was indeed present. Then the doctor ordered an Ultrasound procedure to further check the kidney, bladder and ureter. The technician who performed the Ultrasound took just two minutes to complete the test, (which seemed unreasonably short), and told me everything was normal. I went back to the doctor with my test results and after seeing they were inclusive he said, "There may be many reasons for your bleeding and we are not able to diagnose it here in this small town hospital. You'd better to go to a big hospital in Yan'an (a larger city)." However, he immediately added, "Yan'an may not be good enough and you may need to go to Xi'an (even a much larger city) for a complete analysis."

Since I had already spent several hundred Yuan for all the tests conducted with no definitive conclusion and Xi'an was impractically too far away for me to go at that moment I decided to become my own doctor! Subsequently, I went back to school and carefully examined my urine test results again. The test showed that the level of bacteria and white blood cells were high. I was able to find a medical website on the Internet that indicated there might be a ureter infection requiring antibiotic treatment. I went to the Village Clinic and showed my test results and treatment recommendations to the only resident doctor there and he concurred with my analysis. Based on his recommendation, I received a thermometer from him and measured my body temperature that indicated I had a small fever. He also prescribed me the appropriate antibiotics to resolve my problem. It cost me only 10 Yuan to purchase a thermometer and the two types of recommended antibiotic pills. My detective work along with recommendation from the small village clinic yielded a much less costly solution than the hospital in that town in this case!

Unfortunately my string of bad luck resurfaced on Sunday July 5th, 2015, when I was alone at school. There were several cement steps from outside my office that led to the schoolyard. When I came out of my office and stepped down toward the schoolyard, I suddenly lost my balance and fell. The yard was paved with red bricks that had a very rough surface. During the fall, I twisted my left ankle and severely scratched my right knee and calf. The pain was so great that for a long period of time I could not stand up. Additionally, I had no way to ask for help since there was no one on the school premises on weekends. Even the security guard was not around at that moment. To make matters worse, I had left my cell phone inside my office and could not call the school's security guard for help. Although I sat painfully on the ground for a long time, my pain gradually subsided to the point where I could slowly stand up. When I placed weight on my right leg, it began to swell like a big radish! I took a few careful steps, and from the perceived level of pain, felt that there were no fractures in my ankle or leg. I slowly walked to the village clinic, where the doctor cleaned my wounds and applied some medicine on my leg. My leg was still swollen after several days and the village leaders suggested I go to the town hospital for a thorough analysis of the damage. They took me to the hospital and after taking some X-Ray's, it was determined that there was no fracture. The effect of this fall, however, lingered for some time and left scars on my right leg from my knee below, which were quite obvious for a few years afterwards.

Chapter  11

My ex-classmates from Tsinghua High School supported Yaping School very much and sent many books, sport gears, etc. to the school.

Photo 47: The 1971 alumni from Tsinghua High School giving a piece of artwork (calligraphy) as a gift to Yaping School

Photo 48: Teachers and students from Tsinghua High School visiting Yaping School

My old school, Tsinghua High School has always supported me. In August 2015, about 70 people, students and teachers together, came to Zichang County, in which Yaping School is located, to run a summer camp for the local elementary school children.

Photo 49: Teachers and students from Tsinghua standing with some Yaping students

Photo 50: School principal from Tsinghua High School along with seven other school executives visited the Zichang summer camp.

Chapter  12

During my two years of volunteer work at Yaping, I had captured many lovely moments of the children by taking pictures using my iPad.

Photo 51: A Yaping kindergarten student showing a --- Big smile

The boy in Photo 51 was very cute and also quite mischievous. I encountered him in the schoolyard one day. I had my iPad with me and said, "Smile!" he immediately opened his mouth and gave me a big smile. He seemed so happy all the time, which was infectious to the students around him.

Photo 52: Children playing games between the classes

Photo 53: Three pretty little girls at the school

Photo 54: Children running happily wild with balloons

Photo 55: Children learning to dance

Photo 56: Some six-grade boys and girls playing together during after school time

Photo 57: These three girls whom were frequent visitors to my office

Photo 58: Young girls practicing their Rubber Band Skipping Game skills

Photo 58 reveals some of the young girls at Yaping School during a practice session for the Rubber Band Skipping Game. Here is what is said in the game:

Small ball, banana pear,

Iris blooming twenty-one flowers,

Two eight two five six,

Two eight two five seven,

... ... ...

Chapter  13

December 4th, 2015 was the first anniversary of my volunteer work at Yaping School. I shared my thoughts with my friends in WeChat (a multi-purpose messaging apps developed in China and it has been very popular among Chinese) moments captured below:

"Today's temperature is between 4 degrees centigrade the highest and minus 8 degrees the lowest. A year ago today, I came to Yaping School and started my volunteer work here. Today is the anniversary day. Time flies. Celebrate on my own with tea instead of wine?

... ... ... ...

One year of hardship or difficult time? It didn't seem so. My teaching in the elementary school had gone smoothly. Teachers were very nice to me and some high level executives of the county government were also quite supportive. I feel like I haven't done anything yet but a year has passed. I have done nothing more than giving classes to the teachers and students there and helping the school add more teaching facilities. In general, there was one class and sometimes two per day. However, there were some other exciting events that had been initiated and bore some of my personal influence. For example, Yan'an Radio and Television Station, Yan'an Overseas Chinese Union and some merchants came to the school last winter to hold an event called 'Warm Winter Operation'. They offered physical and financial aid to the less fortunate students and donated some appliances to the school such as a hot water heater for students and staff. The Yan'an Quality and Technology Association also donated 12 sets of Lenovo Computers to the school. Tsinghua High School also came to the county to hold a summer camp. Alumni of Tsinghua High School (my dear classmates) and teachers at the high school donated many books and sports gear for the children. My previous company, Spreadtrum Communications donated books, quilts, laptop computers, school backpacks, stationary, an electronic keyboard and miscellaneous supplies to the school. The Juniper Beijing Office also gave some supplies to the school.

In addition, there were a number of grass roots activities that were greatly appreciated by Yaping School. For example, a 15-year-old high school student in the United States collected many English children's books, which were donated, to the school library. There were also miscellaneous supplies provided by a US Church. It turned out that amidst all of these wonderful donations, I was playing a middleman's role.

What were the happiest moments for me?

When they, the children, said to me, 'You are the most beautiful';

When they said Hello to me everyday;

When they said Hello even when I was in the outhouse;

When they crammed into my office reading and chatting;

When they were trying to figure out my birthday and gave me birthday gifts;

When they gave me their colorful cards at Christmas;

When they sang songs and read a poem to me;

When they reminded me to take a break from my work;

When they reminded me not to read my cell phone when it was getting dark;

When they came to say they were tearfully sorry after they saw they had upset me when they behaved improperly;

When they invited me to join their picnic on a hillside;

When I joined them in the village to gather some firewood;

When they invited me to their homes many times to share more than school related activities;

When many teachers welcomed me at the airport;

When I was sick, people from the school and the village gave me the traditional Chinese treatments;

When people at school or in the village made an effort to take me out to different landmarks during weekend to appreciate the beauty of their homeland;

When I received a variety of fruits and foods in different seasons;

When I surprisingly met some people who were originally from Beijing and now are working and living in this area.

In retrospect, I also reflected on some of the more inconvenient or uncomfortable moments I had experienced that included:

When I had to breath copious amounts of second-hand smoke;
When I had to use the outhouse (toilet outside) many times in the cold of winter, especially when I was sick;
When I saw garbage everywhere in the village and the pollution it caused in the stream running through the village;
When I could see smog hanging over the village due to the coal burning required to cook our meals;
When I could not afford the luxury of taking a shower due to the clean water accessibility;
When I was alone on the school premises during weekends;
When I walked on the countryside road and was immersed in dust due to passing cars and big trucks."

Chapter  14

In November 2016, Mr. Xiong and Mr. Pang came to Yaping from Beijing voluntarily. They used to work in the fields 40 to 50 years ago in this area, just in the same way as I did. They took many wonderful photos for the children. The kids loved to chat with them. Later on I printed all of the photos and gave them to the students.

Photo 59: Xiong was chatting with the children

Photo 60: Mr. Pang and I with some of the students who had graduated from Yaping School one or two years ago

One day I went to Qijiawan Middle School to visit the students who had graduated from Yaping School over the past two years. Their last morning class ended at 12:05 pm, noontime. Some would eat in the cafeteria inside the school. Others would pick up snacks outside school along the street nearby. The afternoon classes started at 12:50 pm and I didn't want to miss the time to meet the children. I waited at the gate of the middle school before 12 o'clock with Mr. Pang and Mr. Xiong who were both holding their cameras. The school security guard at the gate thought they were reporters, felt threatened and began to panic. I tried to ensure him we were not reporters and that I was a teacher from Yaping School. He still doubted my sincerity and then asked me to verify the person who was the principal of the Yaping School. I answered correctly and he then believed our intentions. After the school bell rang, the students were rushing out of the school and I spotted some of our former students and flagged them down. We then chatted for a while with Pang and Xiong capturing photos of our brief reunion. I wanted to treat the students to lunch, however, as we were walking along the street, two school officials with red bands on their arms stopped us. I was separated from the students and sternly told that I was not allowed to be with the students. I attempted to reassure them that we were not reporters. Unfortunately, they didn't believe us and we had to give up a memorable occasion to share both old and new experiences with them over lunch.

Xiong and Pang took many marvelous photos of the children during their stay at the Yaping School. Below are several examples of the photos they took.

Photo 61: Raising the National Flag on every Monday morning

Photo 62: Dinnertime

Photo 63: Children enjoying sunshine during lunchtime

Photo 64: Does this photo indicate the students were so happy to be with Ms. Yu?

Photo 65: Three kindergarten boys singing in class together

Photo 66: Let's see who can fly higher

Photo 67: Children playing the schoolyard game of an eagle catching chicks. Can you guess where the eagle is?

Photo 68: My best friends

Photo 69: What do you want to ask?

Chapter  15

My volunteer work had lasted for two years. Children were growing up. I had to say goodbye to six-graders in the summer of 2015 and 2016. They graduated from Yaping School and continued their education by entering different middle schools outside Yaping Village.

Photo 70: Students graduation ceremony in the summer of 2015

Photo 71: Some of the graduates still kept in touch with me, such as the girl in this photo. She and I became very good friends.

Photo 72: I went to the middle school in town to visit my old friends who had graduated from Yaping School.

Chapter   16

After settling in Yaping, I often walked around the village during weekends. The surrounding mountains were covered by a lush forest due to the many years of effort by local hardworking citizens to plant trees and bushes. As a result, the mountains provided better ecosystem protection, however, this was accomplished at the expense of reducing the land that could be used for growing crops. Besides agricultural activities, there were not many other job opportunities for the villagers. In addition, entertainment options were few and left many villagers with basically nothing to do. Many families were driven to spend their free time gambling. People played mahjong and gambled on a daily basis, even though the money amounts involved were not huge. Some children did not do their homework after school, and wasted time watching their parents play mahjong. Some people even took drugs and got addicted. The situation had led me to thinking about alternative healthy activities that would help the villagers enjoy their leisure time without spending much money.

I had observed city people performing group dancing in China, which was similar to line dancing in the U.S.A. I realized that a dance center could be set up in the village as long as there was available open space. The yard in front of the village committee office had an area that was big enough to accommodate a 40 to 50 people dance floor. It was obvious that group dancing was much healthier and financially beneficial than playing mahjong all the time! After discussing this option with the village leaders, I received strong support to initiate this activity. I gathered a few women who were close friends with me and we proceeded to put together a dance facility on the site. Through some slick dealing I obtained a loud speaker and the village committee chipped in and paid for a song player. All we had to do was to set a time for our first dance party and start to dance!

As expected, only a few people initially joined the dance activities. One village leader was instrumental in taking the lead and asked everyone to follow him. As the villagers overcame their shyness and started participating in the dance activities our numbers grew.

I tried to teach the "Little Apple" dance to the villagers, the same way I did to the Yaping School children. I taught the dance step by step, but some of the women over fifty years old complained that the rhythm was too fast to follow and the action too difficult to learn. Fortunately, a young lady in the village, who was working in the town nearby, knew several styles of simpler dances. With her passion to teach, she started teaching the simplest dances and eventually dances that were more difficult. These activities made it possible for the older women to learn a number of dance routines. With this initial success, our dance group dramatically grew as more people came to join in. At times there were over 40 people dancing which nearly met the capacity of our dance area! In this process, I also learned a dozen new dances. I enjoyed this easy and simple way to exercise which I could perform anywhere at anytime. There was simply no need to have sports gear or any special playground facilities - maybe just a little source of music!

With the cold winter finally over in March 2016, I went to Xi'an for a book sale event at the end of March. On March 31, I took train K214 to Zichang and arrived at ~5 pm. Spring was quietly coming to Zichang and the weather was cool and tolerable. In the evening, I saw many women practicing group dances in the village. I was told they were going to participate in a dance competition held in Zichang County. Most of the competitor teams consisted of town people eager to show their skills. There were almost no teams from the countryside. However, the Yaping group signed up to participate in the competition. Under the leadership of a woman director, the Yaping participants were enthusiastic and practiced very hard. They were ready to challenge the teams from the town. On the afternoon of the next day, April 1st, I went to the Zichang Town Square to cheer on the Yaping team. They called themselves "The Vigorous Yaping Dance Team". During the ensuing competition, the team danced very well and won the third prize! I recalled that on May 19th, 2015, I introduced group dancing to the Yaping people. In less than a year, they had made so much progress that they had won a prize in a dance competition. The results were personally quite gratifying and Yaping celebrated its new success. After this competition event, the County Cultural Center offered a free training program to key people in each dance team. Five people from the Yaping team joined the program and I was fortunate to be one of them. We learned ten different dances in just ten days and were subsequently tasked to go back to the village and teach others.

Photo 73: Group dance competition: The Yaping team won the 3rd place prize.

Chapter  17

It had been 38 years since I went to Yaping in 1976. The economic growth in recent years had brought tremendous change to the village. Oil and coal production had blossomed in the northern Shaanxi area and small coalmines and oil wells could be seen everywhere in the village. The villagers' lives had been greatly improved. It was no longer a problem for villagers to have enough food to eat. Most villagers had their own new houses and a few even had their own business and had become quite rich.

However, new problems associated with growth and prosperity emerged. As a result of the mining activities, the underground water in the village became polluted. This necessitated that water for daily use had to be imported from other far away places into the village. In addition, the garbage reduced from each household was substantially greater than it was more than 38 years ago. For many years, there was neither any garbage collection nor recycling program involving third parties. Garbage could be seen everywhere, in front of the houses, in drainage ditches and along the creek --- one pile after the other! I couldn't find any relatively clean place around the school to take a nice walk after school time. I had no choice but to give up walking and instead chose dancing for my exercise. There simply was nowhere to dump the school garbage! To reduce the magnitude of the problem, schoolteachers chose to set the garbage on fire and burn it, which unfortunately caused the greater air pollution.

The village leaders made a concerted effort to work with the County Environmental Sanitation Bureau to resolve this problem. The Bureau finally agreed to equip the village with garbage bins along the street and send trucks to take garbage out of the village on a regular basis.

On April 19, 2015, I used the loud speaker mounted outside in the center of the village to give a speech to the whole village. The speech was as follows:

"Dear Yaping villagers,

I am Yu Jie (my Chinese name). I am very happy to come back to Yaping after more than 30 years. I was delighted to see all of you again after these many years. However, the health issues in the village have been of great concerned to me. Folks, the garbage in our village has reached an unbearable level. On both sides of the creek, in front yard and backyard of our houses, domestic garbage and construction waste are everywhere. If we leave the garbage the way it is, it can spread disease, pollute our creek, land, and the air we breathe. It can also increase our exposure to a number of other deadly diseases, such as cancer. If we don't take action, we will all be surrounded with garbage and our children and grand children will not be able to survive.

In order to solve this problem, the village is working with the relevant departments of the county to set up garbage bins in many places in the village. They will take the garbage away, if we follow their instructions to help. Let's do our part as well to rebuild a once beautiful Yaping. We kindly ask everyone do the following:

Please clean your own front and back yard.

Please do not dump the garbage anywhere you feel like.

The garbage bins are the properties of the County Environmental Sanitation Bureau. Please do not take them away.

Please dump your daily garbage into the designated garbage bin.

Please do not dump the construction waste into the garbage bin. Send it to Dawanglianggou landfill place instead."

Photo 74: Students from Yaping School delivering leaflet to villagers house by house to promote public health and personal hygiene awareness

On April 21, 2015, during the morning exercise time, the students were asked to help resolve the existing garbage problems. Leaflets were given to the students who lived in Yaping. After school, the village leaders and I took the sixth-grade Yaping students with us to deliver leaflets house by house. We were divided into three groups. Each group had two students and one or two adults.

Photo 75: Teachers from Yaping School planting trees outside school

On April 22, 2015, almost all of the teachers at Yaping School took turns to participate the labor work. We cleaned up the garbage outside the school gate and planted cypress trees.

Chapter  18

Yapping School had its areas of beauty that included this row of cave-like dormitories shown in Photo 76. In the sunny spring, under the blue skies and white clouds, a row of pagoda trees with purple flowers, lined cave-like dorms with white porcelain on the surfaces, and the red national flag in front of the dorms waving in the wind. The color combination of the red, white, blue, and purple was striking and all came together to show the beauty of the school. Unfortunately, the government allocated funds to build a new multi-story building in the cave area. It was a good thing to upgrade the school facility, but quite a pity to see that the caves representing the local culture were now gone - never to be seen again.

Photo 76: Beautiful Yaping School

Photo 77: School principal and some schoolteachers were with me at the Yan'an Airport. Look, they were all so handsome and beautiful.

During my two years of being volunteer at Yaping, the school principal and teachers were very supportive to my work. They also took care of my daily need there. The school is about 80 kilometers away from Yan'an Airport, but the principal and teachers always picked me up from the airport when school started and sent me to the airport when school was over.

Photo 78: Talking to a new principal

When my two-year work was almost over, a new principal came to the school. He would like to see me staying more time at Yaping. I felt sorry that I could not continue to work at the school to support his new position there.

Photo 79: The honor I received: honorary villager

During my time at Yaping, I also received support from all kinds of people outside the school, whether material or spiritual. Friends often used complements that I felt were excessive regarding praise and encouragement. I list below some of the words they wrote to me to express their gratitude for my effort, although I feel that I might not deserve them.

A friend who worked in Zichang County wrote a poem for me at the end of my first semester, congratulating me on the work I had done:

Volunteering teaching seemed difficult at the beginning.

But you naturally coped with ease.

Your parents are looking forward to seeing you again.

Today will be the day.

Your beloved ones have missed you so much,

And you will soon unite with them in US.

Being in the cold winter, spring is not far away.

See you again in the coming year.

Carefully plan the future.

You will accomplish your wish fulfillment in Zichang.

One of my classmates who had been in my class from elementary till high school wrote:

Fortunately in the same class with Yu,

For many years I knew her quite well.

Practical and tough,

Intelligent and outstanding.

In the list of all her courses,

Dazzling grades you will find.

Coming all the way through,

A successful career she had.

Abandoning good life,

Returned to northern Shaanxi.

Volunteered and

Dedicated to others.

Big difference

In living conditions,

She noticed,

But was calm to deal with.

Easy going and not arrogant,

Dignified and mature.

I'm looking up to her and

Sincerely admire her.

The principal of Tsinghua Wenanyi School wrote:

Maybe you haven't seen Xiuyan River*,

A slender River.

Maybe you have never seen Ms. Yu,

Also slender and slim.

Like every River,

Like everyone from Tsinghua High School,

Not surging loudly, not very talkative.

But the inner kindness,

Is the same you could tell from the children's eyes.

Sincerely silent, but influence has gone far.

You can imagine,

Spring in Yaping lies in the plateau and emerges quitely.

But see each individual bud,

Isn't it just like your heart gets polished to lighten?

Skinny like that River,

Watering the weak buds emerging from the yellow soil.

Through the barren field,

The warm lightening buds one after the other,

Are surging and shining.

* Xiuyan River is a local river that goes through Zichang County.

Chapter  19

Photo 80: Flag of Spreadtrum Communications's charity club

Thanks to people from all walks of life for the support and donations made to the Yaping Elementary School. They are: Yan'an Radio and Television Station, Yan'an Quality and Technology Association, Yan'an Overseas Chinese Union, Spreadtrum Communications, Inc., Juniper Networks Research & Development (Beijing) Co., Ltd, old friends who went to northern Shaanxi like me many years ago, classmates from Beihang University, teachers and students from Tsinghua High School, classmates from Tsinghua High School, a 15-year old American born Chinese and his mom, Chinese friends from CCIC church in US, Zichang County Education Bureau, and Zichang County People's Congress.

Spreadtrum Communications was a company I had worked for. The company had donated a lot of educational materials, such as computer notebooks, school supplies, a electronic keyboard, bedding, blankets, school backpacks, etc.

Photo 81: Donation to Yaping School from Yan'an Overseas Chinese Union