Wang Jingli wangjingli0715@163.com YANG TIANJIAO didn’t hesitate to support her husband’s decision to go to Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in 2017, even at the time their child was less than one year old. About a year later in 2018, Yang also went to Xinjiang along with her child and parents, marking the beginning of the family’s life in Xinjiang. The family had lived and worked in Xinjiang for about two years before they returned to Shenzhen in 2020. Their contribution to promoting Xinjiang’s education was recognized by Shenzhen Project Care and Yang’s family was honored as one of the top 10 caring families in 2023. When Yang reminisced about the award ceremony, she said it was an honor to receive the award along with so many other recognized caring people and families from all walks of life. This was the third time for Yang’s family’s to win an honor for their dedication to education in Xinjiang. Yang sees their honor as recognition and encouragement to continue their work. “It is our great honor to be part of the country’s efforts to support education in Xinjiang,” Yang said. Meaningful decision Yang considers her family’s journey to Xinjiang a right and meaningful decision. “I didn’t say no when my husband said he wanted to apply to go to Xinjiang and support the education system there. My husband is a person with a big heart for others and I know he wanted to do something meaningful, so I supported his decision,” Yang said. About a year later, Yang herself followed her husband to Xinjiang by joining the education assistance program. According to Yang, Kashgar, located in Southwest Xinjiang, was promoting teaching Putonghua (standard Mandarin). Her husband noted that Kashgar had a shortage of qualified teachers to teach the subject. Yang is an experienced Chinese-language teacher who once worked in the Philippines as a Chinese promotion volunteer. Partly inspired by her husband, she took the chance to teach Putonghua at a local school in Kashgar. When Yang just arrived in Kashgar, many students could not read Chinese characters or speak Putonghua. Starting from basic pinyin, Yang tried to improve her students’ learning efficiency through rich and diverse teaching styles. After a semester of hard work, her students made great progress in Putonghua and were among the best in the grade. Yang said that after many years of assistance, Xinjiang’s education system has remarkably improved. At present, students in Kashgar use the same Chinese books as their Shenzhen counterparts. Working in a faraway city that has diverse ethnic groups was not an easy feat, especially while raising a young child. Nevertheless, Yang persisted through the challenges she faced, although she felt bad her child didn’t have many peers to play with at that time. For over 10 years, Shenzhen has continuously contributed to the development of Xinjiang schools and to the improvement of infrastructure construction in the region. Shenzhen has arranged a total of 125 education aid projects in Xinjiang and has invested more than 3 billion yuan (US$410 million) to bring high-quality education to students there, according to Shenzhen Special Zone Daily. Life-long connection Although Yang only taught in Kashgar for two years, the deep love between Yang and her students never ends. “After my tenure, we [my students and I] keep in touch through WeChat. They would send me pictures about their daily life, and when they get high scores in their Chinese essays, they send me e-copies and share their joy,” Yang added. She also said, “Not only my students in Kashgar but my child often ask me when I will return, but my child asks me the same too. My child remembers the place even though she was still very young when we lived there.” “There was a time when my parents were not available to help us take care of my child. So, I brought my child to school with me. Students in Kashgar are very different from those who hail from urban cities. They are unsophisticated and sincere. My students and my child had a lot of fun spending after-class time together,” Yang recalled. “This summer, I went to Kashgar to see my former students. We were so happy to see each other again. Some of them have been admitted to a junior high school in Urumqi for a free education program. One must be excellent to be admitted to the program,” Yang said proudly. | 