A Tale of Two Cities Supporting Xinjiang

On the other side, Abudu sighed as he looked at the poetry club's notebook, just as Jiang Hengli's video call came in, "Why aren't you writing poems anymore?"

Abudu scratched his head, "I keep writing about the Gobi Desert and cotton, nothing new."

After hanging up the phone, Jiang Hengli immediately contacted his poet friends at the Liaoning Writers Association, inviting them to give an online tutoring class to the children in Xinjiang.

During a live-streamed tutoring session, a poet from Liaoning said to the screen, "Write down the sounds of the wind you hear and the scent of cotton you smell."

As Teacher Li passed by the classroom, she heard the students chattering about the poems and couldn't help but stop.

Later, when students from both places held a joint poetry exhibition, Abudu's poem was printed in the album. Teacher Li quietly flipped through it for a long time and didn't say anything more useless.

Chang Peng's story of supporting Xinjiang was promoted as a model in Dalian. At the symposium, Chang Peng said, "We launched the 'Education Micro-Light Project' to recruit teachers to teach in Xinjiang."

More than twenty teachers immediately raised their hands.

When Zhang Fan received Chang Peng's call, he immediately declared, "Teacher Chang, I'll be the local liaison!"

She compiled Chang Peng and Jiang Hengli's teaching methods into simple notes and shared them with young teachers: "Let's not just teach from the textbook, but take students to the fields and markets more often."

One veteran teacher countered, "If we teach like this, who will be responsible if grades drop?"

Zhang Fan pulled out the students' report cards: "Look, with this teaching method, the grades haven't dropped, they've actually improved!"

When the first batch of volunteer teachers arrived in Shihezi, Zhang Fan led them into the cotton fields: "This is our practical classroom; we can teach math and Chinese here."

The volunteer teachers learned to grow cotton with the students, and the students learned computer skills from the teachers.

Six months later, several young teachers said to Zhang Fan, "We want to stay and become innovative teachers rooted in the border region!"

Teacher Ma watched as the students in the studio busily packed cultural and creative products for Liaoning Supermarket, and then watched as young teachers led students in practical activities in the classroom, and finally relented.

He found Guzalinur and said in a low voice, "Next time you design a cloth bag, I'll help you check the stitches." "Teacher Ma, that's more like it!"

Abudu ran all the way back to the county high school, rushed into Zhang Fan's office, and shouted, "Teacher Zhang, I got into the Chinese Language and Literature program!"

He slammed the admission notice on the table, his chest puffed out with anger. "After graduation, I'll come back to be a Chinese language teacher, and then lead the poetry club so that all the kids can write their own Gobi poems."

Zhang Fan grabbed his shoulder and shook him hard, "Good lad! You haven't let Teacher Chang and Teacher Jiang down!"

Teacher Li, standing next to him, pushed up his glasses, picked up the admission notice, flipped through it, and his lips twitched. This was the kid he said he would come back to be a herdsman sooner or later, but now he was a prospective college student and aspired to return to the frontier to teach.

Wearing her "National Outstanding Teacher" medal, Guzalinur stood at the studio entrance, directing her students to load creative products onto the truck: "This batch is being shipped to Liaoning, so make sure everything is well-packaged!"

Teacher Ma walked over carrying a cloth bag and stuffed it into her hand: "I noticed that your embroidery stitches last time were a bit off, so I corrected them. Take a look and see if you can use them?"

Guzalinur opened the bag and saw that the cotton pattern on it was embroidered evenly and densely. She patted Teacher Ma's arm and laughed, "Teacher Ma, you've kept your skills well hidden!"

"You'll have to come to the studio for acupuncture technique instruction often in the future."

Teacher Ma blushed, turned around and left: "Don't flatter me, I'm just bored!"

As soon as Zhang Fan's book, *Igniting the Homeland: A Handbook of Frontier Education Practice*, was printed, people from the local education bureau came knocking on his door: "Teacher Zhang, you must send a copy of this book to every school!"

He stormed into the old teacher's office with the book in hand, threw it on the table, and said, "Those who used to say I was just messing around, look at this. Our teaching methods have become the benchmark."

An older teacher picked up a book, flipped through a couple of pages, and muttered, "Who would have thought that taking students to run in the fields could actually produce such results!"

The Liaoning-Xinjiang Education Achievements Exhibition was held on the playground of Shihezi Vocational College. Guzalinuer's cultural and creative products were displayed in two rows, while Abudu led his juniors in reciting poems. Zhang Fan's practical classroom photos covered an entire wall.

Teacher Li and Teacher Ma squeezed into the crowd, watching their former students show off their talents: the girl who used to work with Guzalinuer on cultural and creative products has now opened her own design studio.

The boy who followed Zhang Fan in practical classes started a foreign trade company by leveraging his bilingual advantage and sold Xinjiang's agricultural products to the mainland.

Several students, who had become rural teachers, were now asking Zhang Fan for advice on teaching methods.

Teacher Ma pointed to a student who was introducing cultural and creative products to a customer and said to Teacher Li, "This kid used to sew buttons crookedly, but now he can actually be a designer."

Teacher Li took a breath, her voice a little hoarse: "We were too stubborn in the past, only focusing on grades, forgetting that education is about helping children find their own path."

The school leaders who were presenting awards to the students overheard this and came over to say, "Old Li, Old Ma, it's good that you've come to your senses."

Now, both the county's high schools and vocational colleges have incorporated local practical courses into their teaching systems. From now on, teaching will be based on textbook knowledge + local characteristics + hands-on skills!

Teacher Li nodded and took out a small notebook from her pocket: "I need to write this model down so I can talk to the younger teachers about it before I retire."

Three years later, Chang Peng and Jiang Hengli returned to Tacheng by car after a bumpy ride.

As soon as the car stopped at the entrance of the vocational college, Guzalinur rushed over with a group of students and dragged the two of them onto the playground: "Teacher Chang, Teacher Jiang, come and see our new work!"

On the playground, tapestries embroidered with maps of Liaoning and Xinjiang, notebooks printed with poems, and ornaments adorned with cotton boll pendants were scattered all over the ground. The students surrounded the two men, introducing them one after another: "These are made by combining Liaoning paper-cutting and Xinjiang embroidery."

"This is a gift prepared for students taking online classes."

The two then followed Zhang Fan to the poetry club activity room at the county middle school. Abudu was standing in front of the podium, leading the younger students in reciting: "Poems that grow from the soil are brighter than the stars..."

Upon seeing Chang Peng and Jiang Hengli, he immediately ran over and shoved a handwritten poetry collection into their hands: "Teacher Chang, Teacher Jiang, these are some new poems we wrote. Could you please give us your feedback?"

Jiang Hengli opened the poetry collection; the handwriting inside was crooked and uneven, yet it exuded a tenacious spirit. He patted Abudu's head: "Much better than what you wrote back then!"

The setting sun painted the Gobi Desert golden, and teachers, students, and parents from various ethnic groups sat around the playground, eating naan and dried apricots, and chatting about the changes over the years.

Apa came over with a plate of freshly baked naan bread and stuffed it into Chang Peng's hands, saying, "Teacher Chang, your trip back then wasn't in vain, the kids have all become successful."

Chang Peng picked up a dried apricot, stuffed it into his mouth and chewed it vigorously. The sweet and sour taste spread in his mouth, and it was more profound than it had been back then.

Jiang Hengli pointed to the crowd filling the playground and said to Chang Peng, "Look, the fire we lit back then hasn't gone out."

Chang Peng nodded, looking at Abudu, who was lecturing students on poetry in the distance, at Guzalinur, who was busy taking photos of cultural and creative products, and at Zhang Fan, who was surrounded by young teachers asking him questions. He smiled and said, "They haven't just survived, they've grown into a dense forest!"

When the wind blows, the laughter and poetry from the playground drift far away across the Gobi Desert.