Xi calls on teachers to be role models

Letter honors great spirit of patriotism, dedication of late professor Huang Danian

On the eve of China's 37th Teachers' Day, which falls on Friday, President Xi Jinping extended festive congratulations and sincere wishes to teachers across the country.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, voiced the greetings and his great expectations in a letter replying to representatives of the country's outstanding university teachers on Thursday.

Recently, the teachers wrote to Xi about their progress in teaching and scientific research, and they spoke of their determination to stay true to the education cause, serve the country and contribute to the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

The teachers are members of the 201 role-model teaching teams selected by the Ministry of Education from across the country.

The teams are named after Huang Danian, the late renowned geophysicist, in honor of Huang's great contributions to the country.

Huang was a professor at Jilin University. After achieving academic success overseas, he returned to China in 2009 and helped the country achieve advances in deep-earth exploration. Huang died of an illness in 2017 at the age of 58.

After Huang's death, Xi issued an instruction calling upon people to learn from Huang's great spirit of patriotism and his dedication to the country's development.

As a result, the Ministry of Education selected outstanding teaching teams from 200 universities and colleges across the nation beginning in 2017, encouraging them to spearhead efforts in teaching and research.

In his reply to the recent letter by the representatives of the teachers, Xi said he was very glad that they follow Huang's lead, serve their posts, boost the buildup of their scholastic teams and have made achievements in teaching, education, scientific research and innovation.

Xi emphasized that a good teacher should also behave as a role model for the whole community.

He encouraged the teachers to further learn from and carry forward the noble spirit of outstanding teachers, including Huang.

He also said he expected the teachers to work with their vast number of colleagues across the country, pursue great virtues, dedicate themselves to learning, exploring and innovating, and be a good guide for their students.

The goal for teachers is to make new contributions to the socialist cause of nurturing capable young people who have good and all-around moral, intellectual, physical and aesthetic grounding, as well as to build a modernized socialist country in an all-around way, Xi said.