"You have lived in Shanghai for two years, but now you plan to go back to the remote small mountain village. Don't you have any other ideas?"
"No matter how poor, how backward and how remote it is, it is still my hometown who gave birth to me and raised me. If even I am not willing to go back, who else can we expect to go there?"
Jiucai Mountain welcomed back her son.
At that time, the only teacher in Taomugeda Primary School left after being admitted into college. This resulted in the suspension of the primary school. On the second day of Zhang Shengli's return, only five students came to register among which three came from Taomugeda and the other two came from Xi Gouliang. None of those students in other villages, who should attend school, came.
Standing on the podium, even if there were only five students, Zhang Shengli was still quite excited. He wrote the characters "Project Hope" on the blackboard and said, "I was among the first group of students who got the support from Project Hope. It is Project Hope that changed my fate. I have had a dream since I got the first sum of grant, which is that I must try my best to be a teacher one day when I have enough knowledge and capacity. I must ensure that every child in my village can go to school. Today, my dream comes true!"
Few days after school started, Zhang Shengli took some food with him and went around one village by another, one family by one family. He tried to use his personal experience and knowledge to persuade those parents to send their children to school. Soon the number of students increased from five to thirteen, then to eighteen, and then to twenty-one.
Once, Zhang Shengli was invited to the CCTV (China Central Television) program "Oriental Horizon" . When asked what his most urgent desire was, he thought for a while and then answered, "In class, I once told my students about the five-star red flag, Tian'anmen Square and the flag-raising ceremony in the Square. What a pity, up to now, none of my students has ever been to Beijing or Tian'anmen Square. Therefore, I particularly wish to take my students to Tian'anmen Square and attend the flag-raising ceremony."
It was quite a short time after Zhang Shengli returned to Taomugeda Village that he got the phone call from Yu Tianhui, the general manager of Beijing Passenger and Goods Transportation Limited Company. He invited Zhang and his students to travel to Beijing.
The second morning in Beijing, Zhang Shengli took his students to Tian'anmen Square. It was the first time for these mountain children to stand on the Square. In the national anthem, staring at the "Five-Star Red Flag" slowly rising, everyone held up their right arms high with excitation…
At the beginning of 2001, Yu Tianhui decided to donate 20,000 yuan to build a primary school in Taomugeda. Seeing that the Taomugeda Village was very remote and there were not many students, the school was built in Siyuangou Village and named as "Shengqi Primary School" . On the inauguration of the school on November 2 of that year, Zhang Shengli was appointed to be the principal. At that time, the number of students had increased to more than eighty. During that period, thanks to Zhang Shengli's contribution to Project Hope, the relevant authority broke a rule to transfer him from a Minban teacher[2] to a Gongban teacher.
In October of 2005, Grade Five and Grade Six of Shengqi Primary School were merged into Dongtuanbao Township Central Primary School and this time, Zhang Shengli was appointed to be the deputy principal in charge of civics education.
During recent years, on the one side, Zhang Shengli has been busy with teaching; on the other, he has devoted to the promotion of Project Hope. He always repeated one sentence, "Aiding one boy with 800 yuan or 1,000 yuan may change his fate; aiding a girl may have an influence on several generations…" With the donation he raised these years, he has sponsored more than 300 middle school or primary school students from impoverished family and set up three Hope Primary Schools.
Contribute and devote oneself to the cause of improving public welfare — this is Zhang Shengli's lifelong belief!
2.Su Mingjuan: Hope of "Big Eyes"
Do you still remember this pair of "Big Eyes" ? Do you still remember the yearning look from this pair of "Big Eyes" ?
When the 10th anniversary of the launch of Project Hope came, I once took part in the production of the feature TV program "Ten Years of Project Hope." At that time, the production crew went to the street, holding a photo of "Big-Eye Girl" , and asked passers-by whether they knew the girl or not. Some people answered as soon as they saw the photo, "Yeah, isn't she the big-eye girl of Project Hope?" Some people thought for a while and came up with the response, "She is the girl of Project Hope, isn't she?"
"Big-Eye Girl" is the iconic figure of Project Hope. And this girl consequently has a different life because of Project Hope.
The story of "Big-Eye Girl" should start from the photo taken by the famous photographer, Xie Hailong…
Xie Hailong didn't have so much fame at that time. He was an ordinary photographer of the Cultural Center of Chongwen District in Beijing.
At the end of 1990, Xie Hailong went to conduct an interview in Zhangwan Village, Taoling Township, Jinzhai County, Anhui Province. One early morning, beside the reservoir at the entrance to the village he met several pupils. They dexterously dragged out a wrecked boat from the grass. Xie Hailong closely followed them to get on the boat. Those children told him that their home was six li away from their school and every day they had to make two round trips and they also had to come across a river. Xie Hailong found a little girl in a worn-out flower jacket, aged seven or eight, thin and small, sitting in the stern of a boat. Xie Hailong inquired the girl's name. "Su Mingjuan." The girl answered in blushing.
Zhangwan Primary School was located in an old temple on a big earth slope.