From Sina:
Gulu Village, an Yi minority mountain village that few outsiders know about, located in a national geopark with canyons and sheer precipices and overhanging rocks, belonging to the Yi Minority Administrative Jurisdiction of Hanyuan County of Ya’an in Sichuan Province. Gulu Village primary school is hidden in the middle of the clouds. For 26 years, it has been guarded by a teacher called Shen Qijun. In the middle of October, this reporter followed a Hubei volunteer group, through almost 5 hours of climbing risking life and limb, to arrive at the elementary school within the clouds…
Shen Qijun came to the Gulu Village primary school when he was 18-years-old. At that time, the classroom was made of dirt, the roof leaked, the wind came in through the walls, the school did not have a toilet, and when a student ran elsewhere to use the toilet, they tumbled and got hurt. He grit his teeth, convened the villagers, used folk/old/crude methods to renovate the school, and give it a simple toilet. Teacher Shen has labored every day over the past 26 years, deeply earning the the local villagers’ respect.
If it was not for occasionally finding pack mules walking along the precipice, it is impossible to imagine that an almost 90 degree rock face would have a twisty Z-shaped “Luoma Road” [literally, "mule/horse road"]. This mountain path has many turns and bends, with the narrowest part only 40cm wide. Walking on this kind of high altitude winding corridor makes one dizzy. Only after the “Luoma Road” was made in 2003 did mules and horses become a transportation tool for going in and out of the village.
Wearing school uniforms donated by volunteers, the children smiling faces seem especially happy. School materials/resources are too deficient, and it is very difficult for the children learning under this kind of environment. For example, 12-year-old Li Huan is most proud of having visited Ouse Town and seen a real car. This little girl has taken driving a car as her own dream.
Gulu Village Primary School group photo, Teacher Shen sits sleeveless, smiling in the center.
Reading books, and the hope for Yi children to become successful.
Comments on NetEase:
Support! May the central government support them, I do not have the ability.
It is really dangerous, you must be careful!
So dangerous!!
Would it not have been better to just build the school at the bottom of the mountain instead of using so much strength to build that road?
What a scary road.
I am afraid to even look.
I salute the teacher and children.
Learning is of course important, but safety first.
This kind of teacher and students are worthy of respect.
You guys are the flowers of the motherland, the country’s future…
No matter how difficult, we must go on, but remember: never drink Sanlu…
Frightening, the money those big greedy corrupt officials stole was long ago enough to build these poor kids schools and hire some teachers!
Happiness first.
This kind of life is also not bad.
Only the smiling faces of the children gave me a shred of comfort.
You see? The children of “the people’s public servants” [government officials] all go study abroad.
They are also human [like these kids], but how come the difference is [in education/opportunity] so big?
Sigh, the difference is everywhere, bright classrooms, cozy environments, and still all day I think of cutting class. I am worse than [these] little children. I must reflect.
Poor long-suffering children! Study hard, get out of the mountain!
I used to think our childhoods were tough.
Now I suddenly discover there are also them [the above children and their childhood situation].
Comments on PCPop:
Our country is not yet prosperous, the government has a government’s difficulties. Whatever little financial income needs to be given to the public servants [government] to build luxurious office buildings, buy luxurious cars, so we must show understanding to the government. Children being a little poor or suffering a little is no big deal, because true happiness is the public servant’s happiness.
They do not even have a book…
Education…
Give an address, I want to donate books and clothes.
I am speechless after seeing this. Forget the teachers today who do not do an honest day’s work, what will eventually happen to this kind of good teacher who has worked so hard consistently every day over the past 26 years? I truly rejoice for those children, that they have such a good teacher.
Touches China’s people.
If there was “city management,” there would definitely set up a toll booth in the middle of the road.
Comparing these photos to all of the ZF’s office buildings…TM makes me angry.
Good people. Touching. When I think of my childhood teachers hitting me or punishing me, it does not mean much compared to what these kids must go through.
Our current society is:
“Good people are uncommon, corrupt officials are many.”
This road, one look and I shake in fear…I fear heights!
This is our motherland’s future!~
Every time I see it, my heart feels sad~~
If all the teachers were like him, today’s children would not be like they are now.
See Also:
- Little Girl Stands Outside Classroom Window Every Day
- Volunteers Visit Homes of Poor Migrant Worker Children
- Peasant Girl: My Life Is Miserable Because I Am Poor
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Great story- great photos
Fauna, is it possible to have some adress where we can send some clothes, books or money ?
Jean,
Check this out
http://www.bjydf.cn/neweb/english/index.html
Amazing story / pics. If I were still young, free, and single I’d like to do a little volunteer work up there. I’d need someone to hold my hand on the way up, though. 40 cm wide at its narrowest!!!!
Here are some very shocking pictures of Gulu village.
http://www.chaoshanren.com/gallery/view.asp?id=177
and
http://www.yoyv.com/Blog/log/f22NB_7945_/
in the 1st photo of the second link, the red star on top is Gulu village!
and here is video on youku
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNTA3MTI5Njg=.html
there are already 5000+ comments under the video
as reported in this article
http://www.ce.cn/newtravel/cybd/xryj/gny/200703/13/t20070313_10672601.shtml
the village is not connected to power grid but cell phone can receive signal so people have few backup batteries and when they need to recharge them they go down to the rail station at the foot of the mountain. these Yi minority’s ancestors moved to the place hundreds of years to escape hunting by another tribe.
CORRECTION: only the first five pictures in the first link are of Gulu village and the rest in the first link are of another village in Henan province, as pointed out by one comment in the link. all photos in the 2nd link were taken in Gulu.
It is shame that fight against poverty is fought by one man. That’s why teachers are praised by villagers.
there waa great series , on channel 4 (UK) i think called “beyond the clouds”. would be cool to see that again, if can download.
anyhow im sure this is just a post to denigrate china by a traitor and wants to prevent white men mating with yi gals. lol ( ref another post)
Just keep it a secret. The more it is known the more it will be ruined.
Those other photos in the “chaoshanren” link look like part of the old Jianmen Pass in northeastern Sichuan…could be mistaken, though.
This is something I wanted to do… Maybe I will do it one day?
chengdude:
see the correction in my 3rd comment. Some were taken in Henan.
You’re not going to believe this, but I have been there! I used to work in a development agency in Hanyuan and we went there to check it out. But they decided not to do a project there because it wasn’t cost effective and also dangerous to get there. I still have photos…
@ Peter:
That’s awesome. So you got to walk up that crazy road? Did you get to shake Teacher Shen’s hand? Is he as cool as this post says he is? :)
I never got to meet Teacher Shen. I think a lot of development has taken place since I went there. I don’t remember that lovely wall they are sitting on for the photo. Having said that we didn’t walk all over the whole village, it was just an initial inspection. But that crazy road is the only way up, and it’s quite slippery because it is covered in really loose gravel.
One of the projects th org was doing was microcredit, but the Black Yi minority drink this sorghum beer drink and what they tend to do is get you drunk when you go there to recover the loans. I’m telling you, that stuff is powerful, you don’t know how drunk you are until you try to stand up and go home! You really don’t want to negotiate your way down on that stuff!
So I guess this is why they decided not to do that project there.
One of the Chinese people commented earlier, “why don’t they just build the village at the bottom of the mountain?” The answer is because there is farmland at the top. Also, one thing we noticed is all the Yi’s live up the mountains in inaccessible places, where at the bottom are the Hans… there are plenty of theories bouncing around about how the hans moved in and displaced the Yi’s. I can’t verify that, but it’s always the hans which are richer, better educated, and get to be party members.
The locals are not going to stand halfway a treacherous and dangerous path to the school. Sure, foreigners may admire the beauty and scenic way on the way there. It is stunning in beauty however the local people who lives there have more important priorities to worry about such as an education.
It would be nice to have fence or railings along the route. Nobody would want to walk to school if it rains especially on this particular route. Fear of mudslides or slippery slopes.
Wow, I applaud that teacher. Saw a BBC program recently that showed another school in the south of China (in Sichuan province I think) that was in a cave on a mountain range. The school itself had no roof since the roof of the cave was enough to protect everything from the rain. It’s amazing to me how people are able to make the best out of what they have.
@ Jean:
You may want to check out things like 1kg.org. Here’s a review 1kg.org with some English information written by our Min over at CNReviews. That may be a good place to start with donating stuff.
@ Jean:
Oops, this one might be better. Check out both.
Beautiful place. How many isolated villages like that are there still in China? Probably quite a few. I wish I had the time to go explore.
The road is too narrow! The local goverment should build a new road as quickly as possible.
Beyond the Clouds was a really interesting series, based in Lijiang, Yunnan, so obviously not as remote as this village. Though it was why I wanted to visit Lijiang a decade ago and I loved the town. My then gf and I didn’t want to leave after our week there. Perhaps now even far more touristy and ruined, but still the mountains nearby make up for that.
This reminds me a bit of the film “THE BIRD PEOPLE OF CHINA” by Takashi Miike. It’s a fictional tale about a Japanese businessman who is sent to visit an extremely remote Chinese village in the mountains… If you have access to it, I recommend it.
walking the narrow roads lending them to wider futures
It looked so….China. Still have those old china style house and scenery. Very nice. Hope it get preserve.