Zhang Guimei: A Beacon of Hope for Girls' Education in Remote China

On November 8, the movie "I Was a Mountain," based on the true story of Zhang Guimei, officially opened its nationwide pre-sale across China. In the trailer, Principal Zhang crosses the mountains to lead the girls to learn and study in school. Principal Zhang overcomes numerous hardships; however, she uses her attentive teaching skills to make the children realize they can change their destiny with knowledge and craft their life path.

In 2020, due to intensive media coverage, China's first all-free girls' high school and its founder, Principal Zhang Guimei, immediately gained publicity and were a known name throughout China! However, in 2002, as an ordinary teacher in the mountains, childless and all alone, Principal Zhang Guimei made a vow: "I want to build a free girls' high school so that these girls in the mountains can read, and they can get out of the mountains..."

Zhang Guimei is not superhuman, not in the slightest. More than 20 years ago, in life's darkest and most difficult moments, she had no idea she would build a life-changing school. In 1990, she and her husband married in Dali and taught together in Dali Xizhou Town, a middle school. However, the happy times were short-lived for only five years. In 1995, Zhang Guimei's husband unfortunately passed away due to stomach cancer. After dealing with her husband's untimely death, she left Dali alone and went to the central middle school of Huaping County, located in a deeply impoverished mountainous area. Zhang Guimei applied to the school to take four junior graduating classes and put all her energy into teaching… her passion.

In 2001, Zhang Guimei, always thinking of repaying kindness and wanting to give back and improve the area, became the Children's Welfare Center director in Huaping County. There, she found that in front of the orphanage, most abandoned babies were girls, and behind every abandoned orphan was a devastating mother. During those years, she and the orphans grew closer and closer, and gradually, the poverty and tragedies caused by poverty in the mountains became more clear in front of her eyes: the mother who gave up a loan for her son's education, her daughter only in her teens, forced to marry out.

Zhang Guimei cried tears during every home visit, seeing more and more incidents like this. She was particularly distressed to realize that due to the backwardness of education in poor mountainous areas and resulting inequality, low-quality girls became low-quality mothers, thus cultivating a vicious circle of low-quality generations.

She wanted to change this situation and give the girls in the mountains a chance to “hold up a piece of heaven.” In 2002, an urgent idea rose in Zhang Guimei's mind: to build a no-fee girls' high school! However, more than Huaping County's finances were needed to support the construction of such a high school. For five years, she only raised 10,000 yuan. However, unexpected news came when she was discouraged and almost gave up. She did not expect this almost "fool's dream" to soon become a reality.

On September 1, 2008, Huaping Girls' High School, with only one school building, welcomed its first batch of students—100 poor girls from the profoundly impoverished counties of Huaping, Yongsheng, and Ninglang in Lijiang City.

In the face of pressure and skepticism, Principal Zhang was not discouraged but took a hands-on approach to teaching her students. From the dawn of the day to urging children to get up and go to class, actively visiting students' homes to understand their family situations, taking care of children's lives and rest at night, and correcting their homework late at night, she thought about her students' futures in every possible way. When the children were discouraged and had given up, Principal Zhang used her powerful voice to tell them, "The world is not so fair, but you can change it yourselves," teaching them that no matter where they go, they are themselves, and they can rely on their own hands to open up a piece of heaven and earth.

Three whole years have passed. On the day of the list's release, teachers and children looked at the results with awe. Huaping Girls' High School had 96 students who all went to college in the first session of the college entrance examination (Gaokao)!

Zhang Guimei and all the female high school teachers, with 12 years of perseverance and every second of struggle, helped 1,804 girls rely on knowledge to change their destinies.