Wikipedia

Zhang Guimei

In this Chinese name, the family name is Zhang.

Zhang Guimei (Chinese: 张桂梅; born 15 June 1957) is a Chinese educator who is the founder and principal of Huaping High School for Girls, China's first and only free public high school for girls – in a poor, mountainous region in southwest China's Yunnan.[1][2] She devoted her life to improve female education in China.[1][2] She is of Manchu ethnicity. She is also the director of Huaping Children's Home, the orphanage in Huaping County. She is known for founding the Huaping High School for Girls, a free public high school have trained 1,804 poor girls to universities and rewrote their fate. She is a member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). She is a delegate to the 17th, 18th, 19th, and the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. She is Secretary of the Party Branch and Principal of the Huaping Girls' Senior High School in Lijiang, South Province, and Director of the Children's Welfare Center in Huaping County. In October 2023, she was elected as one of the vice presidents of All-China Women's Federation's national committee.[3]

Zhang Guimei
张桂梅
Zhang in 2022
Principal of Huaping High School for Girls
Incumbent
Assumed office
August 2008
Preceded byNew title
Personal details
Born (1957-06-15) 15 June 1957 (age 67)
Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang, China
Political partyChinese Communist Party
Spouse
Dong Yuhan
​
​
(m. 1990; died 1994)​
Alma materLijiang Institute of Education
AwardsJuly 1 Medal (2021)
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese张桂梅
Traditional Chinese張桂梅
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinZhāng Guìméi

Early life

edit

Zhang Guimei was born into a family of ethnic Manchu minority group in Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang, on 15 June 1957, while her ancestral home is in Xiuyan Manchu Autonomous County, Liaoning.[4] She later changed her name to Zhang Jiamei. She is the twelfth child in the family.[4] Because of the hard conditions, only six children of her family survived.[4] Her mother died of illness in her childhood.[4] Her father died when she was 17.[4] Then, she went to Yunnan province with her sister. She took the college entrance examination of China, Gao Kao, four times for multiple reasons, including financial issues, loss of important legal documents, and performance stress.

Career in Yunan

edit

In October 1974, the 17-year-old Zhang Guimei followed her sister to participate in the "Third Front" to Zhongdian County (now Shangri-La City) in southwest China's Yunnan.[5][6][7] In December of the next year, she entered the workforce and became a staff member of Zhongdian County Forestry Bureau.

Later, Zhang was admitted to Lijiang Institute of Education (now Lijiang Normal College). After graduation, she worked as a front-line administrator in the forestry system and met her husband through introduction.[4] She moved to the Forestry Children's School in Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture (now Xizhou No.1 High School) with her husband, and her husband was made the principal.[4] In 1993, her husband was diagnosed with advanced stomach cancer.[4] Her husband died in 1994, leaving her childless.[6][7] In August 1996, she decided to leave the place with which she was too familiar and applied to teach in Huaping County National Middle School in Lijiang, where she was promoted to head teacher of the Third Class due to her excellent work.[5] In the same year, she was diagnosed with uterine fibroids.[8][7] After hearing the news, members of the Huaping Women's Federation and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference donated money to her for treatment.[8][7] In order to thank the local people, she decided to repay it with her whole life.[8][7] In April 1998, she joined the CCP.[9] In 2001, the Huaping Children's Home, where orphans were adopted, was established, and she was appointed as director.[6]

Principal of Huaping High School for Girls

edit

A girl can influence the next three generations. An educated and responsible mother will never let their children drop out of school. My Goal is to prevent poverty from passing down from generation to generation.

Zhang Guimei, [10]

 
The Huaping High School for Girls in 2023

When Zhang taught in Huaping County, she came across "many girls that just disappeared before they finishing their studies".[2][6] After inquiring, she learned that some of them were forced to work and others to get married at a young age.[2][6] Since then, she decided to change it.[2][6][11]

To raise money for establishing a school, between 2002 and 2007, Zhang spent the summer and winter vacations on the streets in the provincial capital city Kunming, asking people to donate.[2] Many people refused to donate and humiliated her, and she only managed to collect about 10,000 yuan (about $1,415), which was nowhere near enough to start a school.[2][11] In 2007, she became a delegate to the 17th National Congress of the CCP.[2][11] When she attended CCP meetings in Beijing, a reporter reported her story and her dream to start a school for girls have drawn attention from the public.[2][12][11] Within a short time, governments of Lijiang and Huaping county allocated one million yuan for her, and she also received financial support from various organizations and warmhearted people in different regions.[13] In August 2008, Zhang founded the Huaping High School for Girls, a free high school so that poor girls living in the mountains can get an education.[5][11] In order to prevent the poor girls from losing the opportunity to study due to poverty, she stipulated that tuition and accommodation fees are all free.[12]

In 2011, the students participated in the college entrance examination, with 69 undergraduates online, with a comprehensive online rate of 100%. Since that year, the comprehensive online rate of college entrance examination has been 100%, and the online rate of key universities has increased from 4.26% in 11 years to 40.67% in 19 years, ranking the first in Lijiang.[14] Over the past 12 years, this high school has graduated a total of 10 classes of students, from which 1,804 girls from impoverished areas entered their dream universities. Some of these children have entered China's top universities, such as Sichuan University, Xiamen University, Wuhan University, Zhejiang University, and so on. Zhang Jiamei provided these girls the opportunities to achieve their dreams and change their social status.[15]

Personal life

edit

In 1990, she married Dong Yuhan, an ethnic Bai man.[13] Dong died from stomach cancer in 1994, leaving her childless.[6][7]

Zhang suffers from 23 diseases, including osteoma and emphysema.[13] She has a tight schedule every day, getting up at 5 am and going to bed at 12:30 am.[13]

edit

TV programs

edit
Television English title Chinese title Notes
Phoenix Television She De: Headmistress in Mountains 舍得（大山里的女校长）
CCTV-13 One on One (Zhang Guimei: the Girls' School in Mountains) 面对面（张桂梅：大山里的女校）
Yunnan Television Teacher and Mother 教师妈妈
Award Ceremony of the Title of "Yunling Model" 云岭楷模颁奖盛典
CCTV-13 Award Ceremony of the Title of "Moving China Person of 2020" 感动中国2020年度人物颁奖盛典

Films

edit

Honours and awards

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ a b Kristin Huang (21 February 2021). "China honours education pioneer who lifted 1,800 girls out of poverty". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Li Danqing (3 July 2020). "Woman devoted to girls' education in the mountains". China Daily. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  3. ^ "中华全国妇女联合会第十三届执行委员会举行第一次会议 谌贻琴当选为中华全国妇女联合会主席". 新华网. 2023-10-25. Retrieved 2023-10-25. 黄晓薇、桑顶·多吉帕姆·德庆曲珍、张晓兰、葛晓燕、余艳红、徐晓兰、马璐、林怡、冯玲、章冬梅、陈化兰、蒙曼、张桂梅、王亚平等14位同志当选中华全国妇女联合会副主席
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Zhuo Yue (酌月) (26 February 2021). 张桂梅怎么坐轮椅了？ [Why is Zhang Guimei in a wheelchair?]. qq.com (in Chinese).
  5. ^ a b c Zhang Wenling (张文凌) (29 November 2019). 张桂梅：一千多个孩子的“妈妈” [Zhang Guimei: the "mother" of more than 1,000 children]. cctv.com (in Chinese). Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Li Yingqing; Li Hongyang; Li Danqing (22 March 2021). "Showing the way forward". China Daily. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  7. ^ a b c d e f "Feature: School principal crafts new future for "mountain girls"". xinhuanet.com. 13 July 2020. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  8. ^ a b c Zhang Shuyuan (张书愿) (26 February 2021). 感动中国之张桂梅：我不伟大，不必像我一样 [Zhang Guimei: I'm not great]. 163.com (in Chinese). Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  9. ^ Chen Jian (陈坚) (4 December 2020). 张桂梅被授予“全国优秀共产党员”称号 [Zhang Guimei was bestowed the title of "National Excellent Communist Party Member"]. gmw.cn (in Chinese). Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  10. ^ 张桂梅说一个受教育的女性能阻断贫困代际传递 改变三代人的命运 [Zhang Guimei said that an educated woman can block the intergenerational transmission of poverty and change the fate of three generations]. sina (in Chinese). 29 June 2021. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  11. ^ a b c d e Bianji; Hongyu (1 July 2020). "Teacher helps impoverished girls pursue higher education in SW China's Yunnan". people.cn. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  12. ^ a b "Teacher realizes dream with tuition-free school for girls". Yunnan.cn. 10 May 2021. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  13. ^ a b c d Zhang Jiamin (6 June 2021). "Zhang Guimei Helps Impoverished Children Improve Education, Offers Motherly Love to Orphans". womenofchina.cn. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  14. ^ Li Yin (李银); Pang Mingguang (庞明广) (10 December 2020). 大山女孩的“校长妈妈”——记云南丽江华坪女子高级中学校长张桂梅 ["Mother principal" of girls in mountains: Zhang Guimei, principal of Huaping High School for Girls in Lijiang, Yunnan]. Xinhuanet.com (in Chinese). Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  15. ^ "张佳梅自愿来山区任教，帮无数孩子实现梦想，2021年被授七一勋章_男孩_时候_工作". history.sohu.com. Retrieved 2024-09-06.
  16. ^ 云南首届“兴滇人才奖”获奖人选公示. Yunnan Daily (in Chinese). 12 June 2006. Archived from the original on 2020-07-24. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
  17. ^ 中国好人榜2019年11月榜单. wenming.cn (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2020-06-30. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
  18. ^ 省委宣传部授予张桂梅同志“云岭楷模”称号. Yunnan Daily (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2021-02-25. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
  19. ^ 全国妇联授予张桂梅全国三八红旗手标兵称号. xinhuanet.com (in Chinese). 24 July 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-08-06. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
  20. ^ 实至名归！这两位老师当选感动中国2020年度人物. thepaper (in Chinese). 18 February 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
  21. ^ 致敬！张桂梅获“七一勋章”！颁授现场5分多钟发言感人肺腑. thepaper (in Chinese). 30 June 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
Educational offices
New title Principal of Huaping High School for Girls
2008–present 		Incumbent
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zhang_Guimei&oldid=1250224180"