A Tale of Two Cities Supporting Xinjiang

The news that the Miantian Silk Road cultural and creative gift box sold out has caused a stir at the vocational college.

Chang Peng was overjoyed and immediately began planning to take advantage of the situation to promote educational reform, making school-enterprise practical training a compulsory course for design majors, so that every student could have real contact with the market and hone their skills.

He immediately reported his ideas to the school leaders: "The results of the practical training are evident now. Students can sell their designs and learn skills. If we make this a compulsory course, our students will be more competitive after graduation!"

The school leaders initially agreed, suggesting he bring it up at a faculty and staff meeting to hear everyone's opinions.

But as soon as these words were spoken at the meeting, Teacher Li's expression changed immediately.

After the meeting, he pulled together Teacher Zhang and a few other veteran teachers and hid in the office to mutter, "Chang Peng's approach to education reform is hardly what it seems."

"This is clearly using the guise of aiding Xinjiang to force students to work for companies for free, and who knows, they might even profit from it themselves. We cannot tolerate this."

Teacher Zhang chimed in, "Students' main job is attending classes. Running off to work in companies every day is neglecting their academic studies. Besides, we've been teaching design for so many years, why do we need to do all this fancy stuff?"

The group quickly reached an agreement and wrote a formal complaint overnight, falsely accusing Chang Peng of "forcing students to do free labor" and "illegally generating revenue," and sent it directly to the higher education authorities.

The whistleblower letter was submitted, and within a few days, there was a response.

The higher authorities sent people to the school to investigate and also interviewed several students who participated in the practical training.

Fearing that the incident would escalate and damage the school's reputation, the school leaders quickly stepped in to quell the situation.

In front of the investigation team, Chang Peng's leadership in the teaching reform was suspended, and a notice was issued: "The school-enterprise practical training will be changed from a compulsory course to a voluntary elective course. All participating students must sign a waiver of liability, and the school will not be responsible for any disputes with enterprises in the future."

Chang Peng, in a fit of anger, argued with school leaders: "This is unreasonable! Practical training is for the students' benefit. Now that we're signing a waiver of liability, who will protect the students' rights?"

The school leader waved his hand and said firmly, "The priority now is to quell the storm and prevent any further trouble for the school."

"Take a break first, we'll talk about education reform later."

When the news reached the students, the training team was thrown into chaos.

"Sign a waiver? Does that mean the school won't take responsibility if something goes wrong?"

If a company cheats us, who can we turn to?

"I was hoping to learn something from this, but now there's no guarantee of anything. Forget it, I'm quitting!"

"I stayed up all night revising the design before, and didn't even get any benefits. Now I have to take risks too. It's not worth it!"

In just two days, the original training team of more than 20 people was reduced to only four or five people, including Guzalinur.

Everyone was filled with anxiety, and even the design iterations they were working on came to a halt.

Looking at the empty training classroom, Guzalinur felt anxious and confused.

She wanted to talk to Chang Peng about the company's tampering with materials and being unreasonable, but seeing Chang Peng's worried expression after being called in for a talk about education reform, she swallowed her words.

She was even more worried that if she told him, it would put Chang Peng in an even more difficult position, and they would lose this last remaining practical training opportunity.

Looking at the drastically reduced team size, and recalling the backstabbing by Teacher Li and his group, I felt both angry and helpless.

He couldn't understand how his intention to pave the way for students and improve the design program at the vocational college had become illegal revenue generation.

What worries him even more is that the design iterations that were originally agreed upon with the company have been slowed down because the team has broken up.

The company was pressing him every day, so he could only reassure them repeatedly. Then he turned to the students who had withdrawn, saying, "Everyone, please hang in there. The waiver is just a formality. If there are any real problems, I will definitely help you coordinate!"

But having learned their lesson once, none of the students dared to take the risk again: "Teacher Chang, it's not that we don't trust you, it's just that the school doesn't care anymore, and we really have no confidence."

Chang Peng stood at the door of the training classroom, looking at the few students who were still persevering inside. He gritted his teeth inwardly: No matter how difficult it is, this educational reform cannot be stopped, otherwise the students' efforts will be in vain, and those talented children like Guzalinur will have no chance to stand out.

With the copyright dispute unresolved and counterfeit products causing a huge uproar, the training team was in complete chaos.

That evening, core member Aygul, with red eyes, approached Guzalinur, her voice trembling with tears: "Guzalinur, I'm sorry, I... I have to leave the team."

Guzalinur was taken aback: "Why are you suddenly quitting? Let's hold on a little longer, maybe there will be a turning point in our rights protection efforts."

"I can't hold on any longer."

Aygul wiped away her tears. "My mother is hospitalized and needs surgery. My family urgently needs money. The company offered me a one-time compensation of 5000 yuan and told me not to get involved in this matter anymore. I had no choice but to agree."

Guzalinur's heart sank. She wanted to persuade her to wait a little longer, but when she saw the hospital bill in Aygul's hand, she swallowed the words that were on the tip of her tongue.

She knew Aygul's difficulties, but she still couldn't help but ask, "Then... then you didn't take our original design drafts with you, did you?"

Those were all the hard work we put in together.

Aygul's eyes darted away, and she mumbled, "No...no, I just took the few I drew myself."

Guzalinur didn't think much of it, assuming that she had no choice but to withdraw because she was in a hurry for money, and felt full of regret.

To her surprise, just three days after Aygul left, counterfeiters launched an upgraded version of the Cotton Field Silk Road gift box, with a design that was almost identical to the core sketches she had never made public.

Not only did it retain the subtle cotton pattern and the gradient of the Atlas silk, it also added the embroidery elements that she hadn't had time to implement, clearly indicating that she had obtained the complete design concept.

"It must have been Ayiguli who leaked the original manuscript!"

Someone on the team exploded on the spot, "She took the company's money and sold us out!"

Guzalinur felt a chill run down her spine when she saw the promotional images of the counterfeit products.

She only shared those sketches she drew up late into the night with core members; apart from Aygul, no one else got the complete version.

Once counterfeit products were launched, they were priced 30% lower than the genuine products and marketed as upgraded versions, causing the already precarious sales of genuine products to plummet even further.

The disagreements within the team completely erupted.

"I think we should just give up. We're just students; we can't fight against corporations or counterfeiters. We might as well abandon our efforts to protect our rights and just accept our fate!"

Some people slumped in their chairs, their faces filled with despair. "At least I didn't invest much before, so it's not too late to cut my losses."

Another person chimed in, "That's right. We came here for practical training, and now we've not only not received a single penny, but we've also gotten ourselves into a lot of trouble. If we keep going like this, the company might hold us accountable. It's not worth it at all."

"It's all your fault!"

The member who had previously opposed making gift boxes suddenly pointed at Guzalinur, her tone full of accusation, "I told you not to do such complicated projects, just make a single product steadily, but you wouldn't listen and insisted on making gift boxes."

Now look what's happened! The design was leaked, and there are copycats everywhere. Not only did we not make any money, but we also got a reputation for plagiarism. It's all because you were too stubborn!