Volunteer teachers leave deep imprint on students

A short video posted by a Douyin creator in early June has unexpectedly evolved into a vast digital archive documenting the lasting impact of rural education initiatives across China.

Published by an account named "Shujiyuyu", the video features archival footage from the blogger's years as a volunteer teacher in rural Gansu province. Having garnered more than 2.5 million likes and 300,000 shares, the post prompted hundreds of former students from remote villages to recount in the comment section how volunteer educators changed their lives.

Their stories offer a rare glimpse into the long-term human impact of China's rural teaching programs.

Since the launch of the special post teacher program in 2006, China has recruited about 1.18 million college graduates to teach in rural schools across 22 central and western provincial-level regions. In 2025, the Ministry of Education planned to recruit another 21,000 teachers for formerly impoverished areas, ethnic minority regions and counties advancing rural vitalization.

The comments reveal a wide range of life paths. Some former students are now university students, soldiers or scholars studying overseas. Others lead ordinary but fulfilling lives. Yet nearly all remember the teachers who believed in them when few others did.

Among them is Yingdi, a 19-year-old freshman at Hunan Normal University. Raised in a rural family in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, her name literally means "welcoming a little brother", reflecting her family's traditional preference for a male heir.

When she was in primary school, her parents tried to withdraw her from school so she could care for her younger sisters before entering an arranged marriage. Her volunteer teacher intervened, coordinating with local police, civil affairs authorities, the local women's federation and the regional education bureau.

Following repeated home visits and formal administrative intervention, the authorities ultimately ensured Yingdi's right to remain in school. "If not for that teacher, she would have married and had children at an early age. That teacher changed her destiny," said Yingdi's partner, speaking on her behalf while she recovered from a medical procedure.

Now her path has come full circle. This summer, she plans to spend two months volunteering as a teacher in Xingping, Shaanxi province.

Another commenter, Chen Guomin, 24, is a graduate student at the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology. Growing up as a left-behind child in rural Anhui province, Chen met a volunteer teacher named Sun Chuchu, who taught at his village primary school for one year around 2010.

"She was different from the local teachers," Chen told China Daily. "She often took us outside to play when there were no classes."

Just before final exams, Chen developed a fever. Sun took him to a clinic for an intravenous drip. In gratitude, his grandparents later gave her sweet potatoes harvested from their farm.

Before leaving the village, Sun presented Chen with a signed photograph, which he still has.

"She told me, 'You need to get well soon, or our class grades won't look so good,'" he recalled.

Chen later went on to university and graduate school.

"My classmates and I still talk about her," he said. "She left a mark that has never faded."

Zhao Qin, 25, from a mountainous village in Liupanshui, Guizhou province, shared a similar story.

When Zhao was in second and third grade, two groups of students from Guizhou University, each consisting of about eight volunteers, taught at her village school during winter breaks, staying for about a month each time.

One volunteer, math teacher Zhou Kun, left a lasting impression.

"He was so patient and gentle," Zhao said. "Before him, I didn't even know what learning meant. My math scores were in the single digits. He was the one who opened that door for me."

She later became his math class representative.

Before Zhou left, Zhao copied his online contact information from the classroom blackboard. Years later, after completing high school, she contacted him again to share the news that she had been admitted to a university in Wuhan, Hubei province. Today, Zhao is the first woman in her village to earn a college degree.

Of the four girls she grew up with, three are already raising two or three children, living what Zhao described as the same cycle of poverty and culture of early marriage they grew up in.

After graduating in 2025, Zhao returned to Guizhou and spent two months volunteering as a teacher.

The comments section continues to attract updates from former students, including some who are now serving in the armed forces or pursuing doctoral degrees at institutions such as the University of Tokyo. Others tell quieter stories of stable rural lives.

One woman who did not attend university wrote: "Teacher, I'm Cai Xia. I let you down. I didn't get into college. I'm now a housewife with a son and a daughter, a reliable husband and a happy family. I still thank you for your encouragement."

The Ministry of Education is continuing to strengthen the rural teaching workforce through multiple initiatives. Alongside the recruitment of young graduates, its National Silver Age Teacher Action Plan deployed 7,000 retired expert teachers to rural areas last year.

The thousands of comments beneath a single short video suggest that while volunteer teachers may spend only months or a few years in rural classrooms, the influence they leave on their students can last a lifetime.