Here's to China's caring, creative teachers

Second-grade students at Wushan Primary School in Fuzhou City show love to their teacher with hugs on Wednesday.

Xiang Faquan, 58, raises a national flag on September 7 at the Jinyan branch of the Mozitan Town Central School in Huoshan County, Anhui Province. When Xiang started his teaching job here in 1983, there were more than 120 students and six teachers. But as more and more people left the mountainous area to live elsewhere, there are now only two second-graders. "As long as the children need me, I will stay here to teach them,” Xiang said. 

Feng Donghai, 48, talks to his students in a Guangping County school in Hebei Province on September 8. Feng, who was paralyzed since childhood, has been teaching for 30 years. "In my life, I'm most proud to work as a teacher," Feng said.  

Children draw pictures of their teacher in a kindergarten in Dongyang, Zhejiang Province, on Tuesday. 

Dong Zhuwen, 63, teaches first-grade students at Chagan Primary School in Chaling County, Hunan Province. Dong, retired in 2017, goes on working as a teacher due to a lack of young teachers in the mountainous area. 

Sun Min, 34, plays rehabilitative games with her hearing-impaired students in Hengshui City, Hebei Province, on Wednesday. 

Ren Dawu, a 45-year-old PE teacher at Aoxi Primary School in Yuqing County, Guizhou Province, uses stilts in a class. Ren has introduced many traditional toys such as stilts, tops and drums into his classes. "Traditional games can not only help children exercise, but also teach them about traditional culture. Kids love these games," Ren said. 

Lin Xiaolian (left), catches a crab as her student looks on at a beach on Beili Island in Xuwen County, Guangdong Province, on Wednesday. Six years ago, Lin came to the island to work temporarily as a substitute teacher. At the time, the 7-square-kilometer island had more than 300 students, but only five teachers. Lin chose to stay and work as an English teacher. 

(Left) Yu Qigui, a teacher in Jiangliu Village of Longsheng County in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and his students walk to school on February 26, 2013. It usually took them more than an hour to walk the 4-kilometer route. (Right) Yu drives his students to school on July 7, 2020. Now it only takes 10 minutes for them to get to school.