Background: Xihaigu is the general name for the area comprising Xiji, Haiyuan, Guyuan, Pengyang and Tongxin, the poverty-stricken counties in a chain of hills of loess soil in the southern part of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. With an annual precipitation of 200mm to 700mm of rain and an evaporation rate of 1,000mm to 2,400mm, it has suffered from drought over the years. Because of the shortage of water and wanton human encroachment into the wilderness, the situation of soil erosion in Xihaigu is serious. In 1972, the United Nations Development Program put Xihaigu on the list of areas unsuitable for living.

Although Xihaigu has suffered from brutal natural conditions, it has benefited greatly from kind-hearted people, and especially from poverty alleviation projects.

Since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, the state government has initiated plans to relieve the people of Xihaigu from poverty. It has appropriated money, provided relief, reduced or exempted grain taxation, offered low-interest or discounted loans and organized various kinds of donation activities. Xihaigu has overcome one after another difficulty.

Especially since China implemented the reform and opening-up policies in 1978, the living standards and housing of the people of Xihaigu have improved notably. In addition to government support, Xihaigu has enjoyed the financial assistance of individuals and organizations from other parts of China and abroad. With this support, the life of farmers who have suffered from total crop failure has been ensured, dropouts have returned to school grounds, and laid-off workers have found new jobs. Nevertheless, it will be a long course for the people of Xihaigu to become well off, and they have to make efforts continuously.

"Do you remember the first day you arrived at the Piancheng Middle School in Xiji County? With a feeling of joy, we went to meet you. Cracking a smile, you talked with us. Your smile made us feel that the spring was approaching," Ma Ping, a student of the Piancheng Middle School, wrote in a letter to a teacher who had taught in the school for a year and was leaving.

The teacher, Lu Shaochen, is a postgraduate of Fudan University in Shanghai. One year ago, Lu and 10 other postgraduates of the university organized a group to support education in Xiji County in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

According to Lu, the biggest reward for his one-year teaching was that he realized the value of his life. He learned he could change the destiny of other people through his hard work. When he saw that some of his students from impoverished families could not continue their studies, he contacted the Anli Company and established the Fudan-Anli Hope Foundation, which awards scholarship to excellent students and buys necessary teaching supplies for the school.

Qian Jie, member of the education support team, taught in the Wangmin Middle School and held the post of deputy headmaster. She and other teachers solicited contributions and bought the school a high-speed mimeograph, the first printing device at the school, to copy examination papers. Qian clearly remembers the words on the first printing: "The students of the Wangmin Middle School thank you forever." She is aware of that a bit effort in this area can make a big difference.

"I thought these teachers from the metropolis of Shanghai were pampered and spoiled and could not adapt themselves to the countryside life," a student told a reporter. "As only children in their families, they don't know how to take care of other people. They changed my previous impression of them, however."

The teachers walked more than 10 kilometers of mountain path to visit students' families. They ate what the students ate and slept on the local kang, a brick bed heated by firing cow dung. They not only solicited financial assistance for the school but also spent their own money on school supplies.
Cao Xudong, a student, said that the teachers from Shanghai changed his understanding of himself. Before he met the teachers, he was set on becoming a policeman, because he knew nothing about world occupations except that there were policemen and there were teachers. The teachers brought along many books and told the students a lot of stories about great persons, gradually widening Cao's ideas. At present, in hopes of being admitted to a university and becoming a writer, he studies very hard. He appeals to children to go to school.

Zhang Yong, a member of the support team, strove to help his students achieve a leap in their studies. After teaching one year, he regretted that the English level of the students had not reached his expectations.

"I formerly thought that they did not study as hard as I did in the past. Later, I understood them, especially their conditions," Zhang Yong said.

Zhang now understands the difficult circumstances of students like Yang Lifang, 13, a first-grader at the Piancheng Middle School.

Every day, she left home at dawn and traveled 10 kilometers on mountain paths to attend regular individual study at 6:30 a.m. The school closed at 5 p.m., and she would get home at 6:30 p.m. She never supposed her supper would be anything other than potatoes and steamed buns. After supper, she read in the kitchen until 10 p.m. Day in and day out, she felt tired and often went to sleep in class. Her teacher criticized her but she did not say a word. Later, in a letter to her teacher, she explained that it was because she walked for so long every day and was in a state of utter exhaustion.

"I am clearly aware of the importance of knowledge. I have made up my mind to strengthen my confidence in study and to further improve my school record," Yuan Hucheng wrote in a composition, "After Receiving Financial Aid."

The students came to respect the new teachers and were sorry to see them go.
Lu Shaochen once taught his students to sing the song Going out of the Frontier Pass. When he was leaving the school, the students sang the song to show their reluctance to part with their teacher.
Please sing the song Going out of the Frontier Pass for me, With the old words that have been forgotten.
Please sing in a soft, beautiful trill, In praise of the beautiful landscapes beyond the Great Wall...

Fudan University has organized the fifth supporting-education group of nine postgraduates. They will continue sowing the seeds of hope in Xihaigu.

(China Pictorial  December 12, 2003)