As I layover in Tokyo waiting for my flight back home to America, I have the chance to write one more entry after having had a month of travel and relaxation to reflect on my time at Pingmin Elementary School. Of course, I will miss the kids, teachers, and all the friends I made there the most. One of the lasting images and memories that will last me a lifetime was seeing the teary eyed face and warm smile of 1st grade teacher Wang Lihua as she walked on my bus to Shanghai and surprised me to say one final last goodbye. It was truly a scene in one of those movies. I was on the bus, ready to leave Xiuning soon for Shanghai. Wang Lihua called my cell phone and frantically asked me where I was and if I have left yet. As the bus started its engine and pulled out of the parking lot, I told her I was already on the bus and ready to go. I could hear her crying as I tried to comfort her and gracefully tell her goodbye at the same time. The bus was just about to leave the parking lot when it came to a stop for a minute. Suddenly, I saw Wang Lihua climb the stairs to the second deck, her head turned to the front of the bus as she called “Jared!” I was in the very back, and as I stood up in disbelief, she turned around and saw me too. She walked towards me and handed me a bag of snacks. I only said out loud, “thank you” but no other words needed to be said. Her face was a mix of exhaustion, happiness, relief, and sadness. Her eyes were teary as she smiled. I was too far away to hug her, so I grabbed her right hand in the air and grasped it. We stood there looking at each other for a few seconds and it was then that I realized – I was meant to come to Pingmin School to experience what I have and meet the people that I did. These types of friendships are truly the divine work of fate. I was meant to come to Pingmin School and experience all of this for a reason I don’t know yet. She said a quick “bye,” turned around, and left the bus. Although our interaction and farewell only lasted 5 seconds, the moment felt very timeless and the picture of her teary happy face will last with me forever.
I will miss these genuine friendships I made and getting to know the people here. Living in a rural area full of rice fields and mountainous backdrops, and visiting the unassuming beauty of surrounding villages were some of the most memorable experiences. Just by sharing a meal under someone’s roof you can understand that you can be perfectly happy in life with just good food and people around you. This is the China I always wanted to experience. Not the glitz and glamour of Shanghai or Beijing, but the true, down to earth people that give you an unfiltered insight on the deep culture, proud traditions, and friendly hospitality of Chinese people. I’m happy that I came to a place that is unfamiliar and uncomfortable. I’m glad I had the opportunity to maybe impact a child’s life here in an area where few choose to live. With the ever widening social economic gap occurring in China, kids like these need more attention and help before they become even more marginalized.
I miss the kids and whenever I see a picture of them on my computer, I remember certain stories or random memories about them. I will definitely try to remain in contact with them by writing letters and sending pictures over to them. I will always be rooting for them and hope they live a happy and meaningful life. On my last night at Pingmin School, before they were ready to go home, I had the opportunity to speak with the 5th and 6th graders. I told them (in bad Chinese) to remember there are always people worse off as you. Realize how lucky you are, how much you have, and how many people love and care for you. And then help others. It is only natural that some of these kids will do bad things as they mature and grow up, everyone does, but I have faith in every one of them that at some point in their life, they will do good things and live right. When I look at these kids, I also see a reflection of life itself. They remind me what innocence is, what laughter sounds like, what things in life really make you happy, how good humans can become, and how bad we can become too. I am so happy to have met them, sad to leave them, but also so excited for what they can become.
I also learned a lot about the Chinese education system. And indeed, all the rumors are true – it is very rigorous with high emphasis on education but with even higher pressure on these kids. For most of these kids, their parents or guardians spent their whole lives working on the farm in the village or doing meaningless low-salary jobs in bigger cities. They themselves because of economic standings and other reasons never had an opportunity to focus on education and get into college as it was more important to make money and help the family get food on the table. So because the parents want a better future for their kids and have their kids make enough money to support them when they get old, the parents want to make sure their child is studying hard so that he/she can get into a good college and get a good job. Unfortunately, China’s main criteria for admission into college are based purely on the famous Gaokao, China’s college entrance exam where your score and rank determine which college you will be placed into. Moreover, pressure is not just coming from the parents. Provinces, districts, counties, local education boards, schools, and teachers all have pressure trickling down from above to make sure the students will test well and test better than other schools. Besides, higher markings also mean higher bonuses. Unfortunately, this all leads to fierce competition and enormous amounts of pressure on the kids. It also leads to a narrow-sighted focus that significantly affects education here, and that is to learn how to test well. All over the country, education has morphed into a form that will prepare these students to think analytically and do well on tests. But how well can they think for themselves? Luckily, more and more Chinese young adults are also realizing this problem in the system and more questions are being asked. Is it more important to recite a passage from heart or to learn to think more critically? Should cramming the same inordinate amounts of information into your head like everyone else be the focus or learning what you’re interested in? Unfortunately, it all leads to the same approach because the Gaokao is still the overarching deciding factor for placement. More unlucky however are these kids. Obviously China has one of the higher percentages of smart, educated citizens and a lot of it is based on the importance of education and values of hard work. But this system is coming at what type of cost for these kids? How is it affecting their development? Is drilling practice tests for 2 weeks to 1st graders really worth it?
A teacher here had a good analogy of what education is and how kids should be brought up. A school is a garden. Some students are flowers. Help them blossom beautifully and naturally. Some students are grass. Encourage them to grow green and big so that they can decorate the land. But no matter whether they are flowers or grass, they all have something to offer in Spring. Raise them to be the most brilliantly colored flowered or greenest grass they can be.
新年快乐! Xinnian kuai le! Happy Chinese New Year! Yesterday Principal Zhang, her son, and I celebrated in a village in Hangzhou. I originally wanted to go to one of teacher’s villages to celebrate, but the Tecsun CEO, Mr. Nie, arranged for us three to travel to Hangzhou to celebrate, and then go visit the company’s headquarters in Suzhou. We arrived in Hangzhou a night before Chinese New Year’s eve, and stayed at a Tecsun’s employees home which has Western style guest houses and furniture. Once we arrived we were immediately warmly welcomed with a huge banquet dinner together with his immediate family, brother’s family and us three. While his wife and sister-in-law were slaving away in the kitchen, we sat down and were immediately handed food to eat. There was dried beef, pig’s feet, pig’s tongue, fish head, steamed fish, hairy crab, fish ball soup, stewed lamb, 8-treasures rice, chicken, cucumber sprinkled with sugar, Chinese stir-fried leafy vegetables, and of course, baijiu (the Chinese firewater alcohol). I was so impressed with the amount of food as dish after dish kept on coming, and it wasn’t even Chinese New Year’s Eve dinner yet. Lunch was the same way the next day. So much food and they kept on putting more food on my plate that it bordered on force-feeding. I know, poor me eating so much delicious food.
In the afternoon, we drove around town a little bit, and walked around the village to play basketball. I noticed how much cleaner this village was compared to villages near our school in Anhui Province. There was less trash thrown into the river and on the streets. And the road was nicely paved and had level concrete. After visiting many villages in our area and seeing all the litter that each village had, I expected all villages in China to be this way. But not here. There seemed to be a few reasons why our villages were so much dirtier. According to Principal Zhang, Anhui is one of the poorer provinces in China and therefore is not governed properly or not adequately funded like other more wealthy provinces. Also, most of the villages in our area are in remote, mountain areas, where it’s hard to govern because of its distance from bigger cities. In turn, the government can not provide more services to these villages, and the idea of not littering and cleaning the environment can’t be well taught. This problem definitely stems from the way the villagers think about their environment and as parents litter, children learn to do the same thing. I just hope that Pingmin’s education will teach our students to value our environment, and in turn, they can go back to their villages and influence the people around them.
Chinese New Year’s Eve dinner was same enormous banquet but with dumplings added. Fireworks, and firecrackers banged in the background as we ate to our heart’s content. After dinner, we also lit off some fireworks, but since their house is more closed off with high walls and more separated from their neighbors, I couldn’t really see the surrounding fireworks in the sky. We then played some cards inside and watched the annual Chinese New Year celebration gala on TV. At midnight, we again lighted fireworks.
It was a good night with great food and cozy sitting space, but still wished I could have gone with a teacher to their more rural village and celebrated with them. Since this village isn’t as rural and more spaced apart, I couldn’t enjoy the real village-like atmosphere I imagined. I wanted to see a sky filled with colors and smoke, and I wanted my ears to be partially deft from firecrackers being set off every 5 seconds. I wanted to eat really traditional local foods and play ma jiang with old men drunk off baijiu. I wanted to see kids running around and being way too dangerously close to the fireworks and watch the New Years Gala on a run-down TV cuddled with villagers in a small room. You know, the "real" experience. Hopefully I will have a chance later to come back and experience this.
Finals ended and all the kids went back home today. This may be the last time I will see their faces for awhile, so of course I am a little sad. The children on the other hand, were so happy and excited to go home. During this half a year, they only have two chances to go back home: 1) for a week during National Week Holiday in October and 2) for a month after the Fall semester to celebrate Chinese New Year. This is their Winter Break and they could not be more excited to go back home to their village for a month, be with family, and see friends. The children packed all their belongings and bags in the morning and eagerly waited outside and in the classroom for their guardians to come and take them home. One by one, the students left the school. Most of the parents came by scooter or motorbike, but others like grandparents took the bus. However, some of the student’s villages are very far away. Moreover, some of these mountain villages have horrible roads and since yesterday snowed, there was heavy congestion which made it even harder to travel. As a result, these guardians could not come to the school on time, and so some students were left wondering
when they were going to get picked up. The younger students especially, got the most nervous and anxious as they watched their peer’s get picked up and go home. Some waited frantically at the school gate while a few cried. Eventually though, all the students got picked up today and were able to go home.
It was a bittersweet day. I’m really happy that these kids finally have a chance to go home and be with their family. I’m glad they will be able to relax, have fun, play around and be kids. But I really will miss them a lot. I will miss their smiles, their curiosity, their innocence. These are good, strong kids and they deserve every right to be happy and have the same educational opportunities as a kid in Shanghai.
And I also keep thinking, wow, my time here is also ending. After Chinese New Year, I am leaving China. How quickly it all went...
I will miss these genuine friendships I made and getting to know the people here. Living in a rural area full of rice fields and mountainous backdrops, and visiting the unassuming beauty of surrounding villages were some of the most memorable experiences. Just by sharing a meal under someone’s roof you can understand that you can be perfectly happy in life with just good food and people around you. This is the China I always wanted to experience. Not the glitz and glamour of Shanghai or Beijing, but the true, down to earth people that give you an unfiltered insight on the deep culture, proud traditions, and friendly hospitality of Chinese people. I’m happy that I came to a place that is unfamiliar and uncomfortable. I’m glad I had the opportunity to maybe impact a child’s life here in an area where few choose to live. With the ever widening social economic gap occurring in China, kids like these need more attention and help before they become even more marginalized.
