Journalist helps rewrite lives of Yi students

For every letter, Zhang helped them revise grammatical mistakes and improve their calligraphy before personally mailing them off to faraway benefactors. She said she cannot remember how many letters she has helped post.

Zhang's deeds have come to the attention of international organizations. Her workshop has teamed up with charitable entities such as the Fu Hui (Canada) Education Foundation to establish three schools for orphans and young female students in the region.

The latest figures show that poor and orphaned students benefiting from Zhang's efforts now exceed 10,000.

She said her dream to help the children began in August 1997 when she went to cover a story in Liangshan. She was taken aback by the heartbreaking poverty there, and since then she decided to commit her free time to helping improve the lives of villagers in the remote mountainous region.

Liangshan locals idolize Zhang, especially because her devotion to the Yi children transcends family and ethnic ties.

Liu Yingmei, a former student at the Liangshan Minzu School who has received support from Zhang, has since earned a doctoral degree and has a successful career.

She said her family was too poor to buy even a box of matches when she was in middle school, and she only ranked No 29 in her class in terms of test scores. She couldn't even meet the minimum standards to receive donations for promising students.

"Every festival I would call Zhang to express my gratitude, because she didn't drop me when I was not a good student, and she helped me to win funds from a Hong Kong organization for 11 years. She helped me achieve excellence," Liu said.