“I have a dream”

“我有一个梦想”

A thirteen- or fourteen-year-old girl was sitting on the side of the road, her eyes blank, looking sadly into the distance. The girl’s parents asked her to drop out of school to marry for 30,000 yuan. "I want to study. I don't want to marry..." The girl's cry echoed on the street, but no one responded.

一个十三四岁的女孩坐在路边，眼神空洞，悲伤地看着远方。女孩的父母为赚取3万元要求她辍学结婚。“我想学习。我不想结婚......” 女孩的哭声在街上回荡，但无人回应。

Zhang Guimei, the dean of the Huaping County Children’s Welfare Institute, grabbed the girl by the arm and planned to take the girl away. But the girl's mother threatened Zhang with her life. Zhang couldn't take the girl away. Zhang felt helpless and powerless.

华坪县儿童福利院院长张桂梅抓住女孩的胳膊，正打算把女孩带走。但迎来的是女孩母亲的以死相逼。张桂梅无法将女孩带走。她感到无助又无力。

After witnessing these miseries, Zhang had a dream to set up a free girls' high school so that girls in the mountains could study.

在目睹了这些苦难之后，张桂梅有了一个梦想，那就是建立一所免费的女子中学，让山区的女孩都能够学习。

A role model

榜样

Zhang, who was born in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, moved to Yunnan in 1975. A year after her husband's death in 1996, she volunteered to teach at a middle school in Huaping, hoping to move away from old memories.

出生在东北黑龙江省的张桂梅于1975年搬到云南。1996年丈夫去世一年后，她自愿到华坪县的一所中学任教，希望能摆脱以前的回忆。

She founded Huaping High School for Girls in 2008. Since the boarding school opened, around 2,000 girls from impoverished families in Yunnan's mountainous regions have been enrolled by universities after taking the national college entrance exam, successfully rewriting their fate.

她于2008年创办了华坪女子高级中学。自这所寄宿学校开办以来，约有2000名来自云南山区贫困家庭的女孩在参加全国高考后被大学录取，这所学校成功改写了她们的命运。

However, in April 1997, Zhang was diagnosed with uterine fibroids. To make sure her condition did not affect students preparing for the high school entrance exam, Zhang kept teaching for three months until the students took the exam in July.

而在1997年4月，张桂梅被诊断出患有子宫肌瘤。为了确保她的病情不影响准备中考的学生，张老师坚持任教了三个月，一直坚持到了7月的中考。

The doctors removed a 2-kilogram tumor from Zhang’s body. Although they asked her to rest for at least six months, she returned to her post 24 days after the surgery.

医生从张桂梅体内切除了重达2公斤的肿瘤。医生要求她至少休息6个月，可她在术后的第24天就回到了自己的岗位。

"An educated girl can influence future generations in a positive way," Zhang said, "It is my greatest comfort to be able to change at least one generation through education."

“一个受过教育的女孩能够以积极的方式影响后代，”张桂梅说，“能够通过教育改变一代人是我最大的安慰。”

Zhang has changed the fate of these girls by enabling them to pursue education and preventing poverty from being passed on to the next generation.

张桂梅改变了这些女孩的命运，给她们搭建了受教育的平台，用教育阻断贫困代际传递。

Heroic woman

女英雄

With fingers and wrists wrapped in medicated tape, Zhang Guimei, founder and principal of the first free high school for girls in China, was presented with the July 1 Medal by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on 29th June.

6月29日，中共中央总书记习近平向全国第一所免费女子高中的创始人兼校长张桂梅授予七一勋章，此时她的手指和手腕上还缠满了止痛药膏。

The medal, established by the CPC Central Committee, is the highest honor in the Party.

该勋章由中共中央设立，是党内的最高荣誉。

Zhang was also awarded "National Excellent Teachers" by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China in 2020, with the title of "Moving China Person of 2020" by the China Media Group in 2021.

张桂梅还被教育部授予2020年“全国优秀教师”荣誉称号，2021年被中国媒体评为感动中国2020年度人物。

At the ceremony, Zhang, 64, said, "as long as I have one more breath I will continue to teach in the classroom, with all my efforts, giving out everything I have.”

在颁奖典礼上，64岁的张老师说：“只要还有一口气，我就要站在讲台上，倾尽全力，奉献所有。”

又到一年教师节，她的故事依然激励着我们 03:35 Share

China Daily Podcast

Shownotes Transcript

又到一年教师节，她的故事依然激励着我们