Since 2004, Zhe Liancheng has worked as a teacher in Huaxi Middle School, Liangqu Primary School, Tongzhuang Primary School and Jingyuan No. 2 Middle School in Zhenbeibao Town, Xixia District, Yinchuan City. He gave up a well-paid, comfortable job and learned to adapt to teaching in a difficult environment without adequate textbooks and supplies. In order to leave no student behind, to make sure not one student drops out of school, he stays year after year in his teaching position in western China. He stays so that more children can leave. 

In June 2004, Zhe Liancheng graduated as an English major from Ningxia RTVU and found a job in Shandong province. But less than one month after starting work, he received a call from a teacher at the RTVU notifying him that he was recruited as a university volunteer for the “Western Region Programme”. Should he stay with his comfortable job, or accept this challenging opportunity? Torn between his supervisor’s plea to stay and the call from his countrymen in the west, Zhe gave the matter careful consideration, and ultimately decided to give up his comfortable job and return to his hometown to serve as a university volunteer for the “Western Region Programme”.

At first, Zhe Liancheng was assigned to work at Huaxi Middle School in Zhenbeibao Town, Xixia District, Yinchuan City. Then he heard that the Liangqu and Tongzhuang primary schools in Zhenbeibao Town were very remote, and students there had never had English classes. So he applied to work there. The two schools were four kilometers from each other and there were no buses in the area, meaning he had to walk back and forth between the two schools. He felt that since he had made his decision, he should not give up, and that these difficulties were nothing.  During a span of 1.5 years, he walked over 4,000 km between the two schools. In order to save time, he consumed more than 1,000 bags of instant noodles. “No pain, no gain,” he thought. Thanks to Zhe Liancheng’s hard work, students at the Liangqu and Tongzhuang primary schools made outstanding progress in English. At the Ningxia “Yiheng Cup” English contest in 2005, one student won third place for the entire district, and four students won encouragement awards. In order to give students access to computers as early as possible, he searched far and wide for support and finally was able to obtain 35 computers for the two schools. 

After being a volunteer teacher for two difficult but fruitful years, Zhe Liancheng passed the examination to become a special teacher in September 2006 and was assigned to work at the No. 2 Middle School in Jingyuan County. Jingyuan No. 2 Middle School is a rural middle school where students have a weak academic foundation. They tend to dislike studying and often skip school, and students' scores vary widely. Zhe thought of many ideas to boost students’ enthusiasm for study, cultivate their interest in English and increase their confidence. He used incentive mechanisms such as rewarding students with small prizes and red stars on the wall if they could recite a certain amount of words or text. Although the prizes each time were very small gifts, they helped instill in the students' hearts a sense of pride and a passion for learning. For every test, he painstakingly designed two test forms, and endeavored to control the score variation between students. When a low-scoring student saw that a good student only scored a few more points than he did, he would gain confidence in studying and catch up. Thus, his students had the highest scores in the unified county English examinations. Four of his students won second or third place in national English contests. The students also ranked very highly in the high school entrance examinations.

Leaving no student behind, not letting a single student drop out of school — these were the goals Zhe Liancheng set for himself. Sometimes, students could not afford the tuition fees. Zhe would pay first. Sometimes students skipped school because they were sick of studying. He would often talk to them and help them stay in school. Sometimes, students had poor scores. He would use his spare time to tutor them for free. Ma Fuqiang, a third year middle school student, dropped out of school and went to work in Xi’an because his family was very poor. After hearing the news, Zhe went to Xi’an and searched all over the city for Ma Fuqiang. He finally found Ma Fuqiang through friends, patiently persuaded him to return to school, and gave him 200 RMB per month as a living allowance until he graduated from senior high school. Now, Ma Fuqiang is studying at Ningxia University.

To be a good teacher, one must first learn to love his or her students. To love a student is to shape a student. Students in families that have experienced special misfortunes especially need their teachers’ care. One girl in Zhe Liancheng’s class disliked studying, treated her classmates coldly, had emotional problems, and could not improve her scores. After long-term observation and family visits, he learned that her father had passed away, her mother was disabled and chronically ill, and her family was in great poverty. She felt that others looked down on her, so she often quarreled with her classmates and did not want to study. After learning this, Zhe requested help through various channels. Fujian Relief Services raised 1,000 RMB to help her family. At the same time, he tutored her in his free time and gave her 200 RMB per month to help her through senior high school. Thanks to the kindness of society and a teacher's love, the girl is now studying at a university in Beijing.

Many adults from Jingyuan County migrate to larger cities to find work. Many children are left behind, and some have difficulty getting along with others. Zhe Liancheng and volunteer graduate students from Ningxia University launched one-on-one support activities through the Rishan website, Baidu forums, and Ningxia Wangchong website. They spent a lot of time getting to know left-behind children, asking them to write about their families, taking photos at their homes, and posting each child's story and family photos on the Baidu forum site to raise funds. When the post for raising money first appeared on Baidu, many people questioned it. Ms. Su from Zhejiang province asked, “Is this real or fake?” In order to allay people's suspicions, Zhe posted his personal information on the forum. Ms. Su replied, “You are such a great person. You not only donated money yourself, but also asked friends to raise money with you.” To his surprise, the fund-raising activity, which started on August 29, 2011, received 1,400 RMB from five donors the next day. From 2011 to the present, donors nationwide have contributed a total of 47,000 RMB.

Zhe Liancheng used his opportunities to study to seek help from all sectors of society to improve schooling conditions and students' living environment. As a result of his active efforts, the China Banking Regulatory Commission donated teaching equipment worth 56,000 RMB to Jingyuan No. 2 Middle School. World Vision donated video equipment worth 10,000 RMB. Zhe worked with Ningxia University to establish the “Hand in Hand” programme designating Jingyuan No. 2 Middle School to receive Ningxia University's assistance and support. Over the past year, Ningxia University donated more than 30,000 RMB of books and teaching equipment to the middle school. At present, Zhe is in discussions with Beijing Angel Volunteer Association to deliver donated items worth 400,000 RMB to Jingyuan County.

At the national "Learn From Lei Feng" seminar in early March 2012, Zhe Liancheng as the sole representative of the Northwest region and five other representatives were received warmly by central leaders including Li Changchun and Liu Yandong.

By Hu Xiaolin