Deep in Mount Taihang there is a primary school with only two pupils and a
teacher, who has recently caught the attention of the cyber-world.
Undated photo shows Mei Xiang teaches at Shimen Primary
School in Henan Province. [Southern Metropolitan News]
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The teacher, Mei Xiang, has been dubbed the most
beautiful teacher on the mountain by netizens according to a Southern
Metropolitan News report on Wednesday.
Mei has been working for the school in a remote mountain village in
central China's Henan province for six years. She started at 16, when Shimen
Primary School was on the verge of closing due to a lack of teachers.
The school was built because the closest major school was
considerably far away from the village. Many students have left for a variety of
reasons, and now there are only two. Mei is still determined to help the
villagers become literate and fashioned her home into a classroom after the
actual school building collapsed.
According to a previous report by the Henan Business News, this single young
woman, determined to stay in the school as long as there is even one child to
teach, has disappointed a number of admirers by announcing that her boyfriend is
staying with her in the poor mountain village.
Mei Xiang's story was spread on the Internet by a plasterer in Henan, "Cloud
in Hometown" as he calls himself on the Internet. He went to Mount Taihang
after reading the report to find the teacher who loved her job so much.
Mei was surprised to have a guest in the village, and her living conditions
moved "Cloud in Hometown" who then brought a group of seven netizens to visit
her. With Mei's permission, they posted several of her photos on a forum, and
several online communities spotted her pictures.
"Cloud in Hometown" never thought his behavior would disrupt Mei's life, but
as more netizens went to see her they began to blame the local authority for
failing to fund the school.
Most villagers are leaving Mount Taihang as exploitation of the land
continues and new roads connect them to cities. Mei recently married but doesn't
live with her husband because it's too far from the school. She feels guilty,
but says she'll stay until there is someone to replace her, as "helping children
who live in the mountains learn is too important" for her to stop, she said.