I have a good mother. But she is not only my mother; she is also a classmate. Due to my low educational level, I was repeatedly turned down by employers, and felt helpless and hopeless about my future. Then my mother heard of the "One College Student per Village" programme offered by the OUC, which aims to cultivate technical and management personnel who are "willing to stay and be helpful with the work" of rural areas. I thought this programme would suit me well as a “probationary village official". My mother, with little education herself, encouraged me to go to the OUC for further studies, and was also eager to be admitted to it to improve herself.
My name is Yuan Wenqian. I come from Xiuwen County, Guizhou Province, where the Yang-Ming Mind Theories originated.
I am a retired soldier, and a sophomore studying Law at the OUC’s Guizhou Branch. When I look back on my years in the army, I feel delighted to see how quickly I grew up there. My army life changed me from an innocent young girl to a warrior with an unbreakable heart. However, as it came time for me to leave, I began to panic.
I come from Shangli County, Pingxiang, at the border of Hunan and Jiangxi Provinces, and am a self-employed entrepreneur. Even though Shangli County is located in a remote mountainous area, a strong respect for culture and education exists there.
Time slips away whether we like it or not, and upon looking back we find that the past is partly hidden in memory and partly visible. City skyscrapers are rising high into the sky and the streets are growing wider and flatter, with pedestrians walking fast. The clang and rhythm of the streets are accompanied by the unease that comes with change. With the pressures that we face, how can we find a tranquil corner for a rest?
Time slips away whether we like it or not, and upon looking back we find that the past is partly hidden in memory and partly visible. City skyscrapers are rising high into the sky and the streets are growing wider and flatter, with pedestrians walking fast. The clang and rhythm of the streets are accompanied by the unease that comes with change. With the pressures that we face, how can we find a tranquil corner for a rest?
In 1992, I was transferred from the army to work at the Municipal Cultural Bureau in Huzhou. After that, I quit my job and decided to work for myself. I made money by driving rickshaws. I drove taxis. I also ran a factory and a company. In the summer of 2007, I sold my two companies and returned to my hometown that I had left 20 years before, and started farming lake sheep, a kind of sheep raised in Zhejiang Province.
Ou Yangxiu, a literary giant of China’s Song Dynasty, once said: "The first step toward establishing oneself in society is getting educated, and the foundation of this is reading." Meanwhile Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the famous German writer, said: "Reading all kinds of good books is like talking to many noble people." As a mother who was out of school for decades, I have often been asked why I chose to return. I think the maxims of those two sages are the perfect answer for me; external beauty fades, but the elegance and calm of those who have kept reading will never disappear.
My name is Deng Xin. I am a hostess at the Shaxian County Radio and Television Station, and a graduate of the Shaxian county workstation at the Fujian branch of the OUC.
Twenty years ago, I graduated from a secondary specialised school and became a hostess. I loved my job, and worked hard to learn the correct forms of pronunciation and expression through imitation. In this mindless way, a hostess can achieve a certain level of external accomplishment, but a genuine understanding of politics and culture cannot be imitated.