Tianjin-Xinjiang educational links producing results

Ten-year-old Raziya Abulati from Qira county, Hotan, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, burst into tears the moment she spotted Jiang Zhiyao, her former volunteer art teacher, at Minyuan Square in Tianjin.

Raziya had traveled over 4,000 kilometers to attend the "Love for the Motherland, Journey in China" Tianjin-Qira Integration and Exchange Camp. She pulled a hand-woven bracelet from her bag and slipped it onto her teacher's wrist.

"This time, I came to see you," Raziya said.

The story began in March 2026, when Jiang, a student at the School of Chinese Painting at the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, joined a 12-member volunteer teaching team bound for Qira. She was part of Tianjin's "Golden Pomegranate" College Student Western Volunteer Teaching Corps, a program that has sent more than 5,410 university students from Tianjin to Xinjiang since its launch in 2017.

Qira sits at the northern foot of the Kunlun Mountains and at the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert. At Qira No 3 Primary School, Jiang taught art and calligraphy. Many children were initially reluctant to put pen to paper. She guided them stroke by stroke as they copied Chinese characters and painted landscapes.

Within two to three months, the children had grown visibly more confident, eagerly raising hands in class and quietly slipping handmade drawings and notes to their teacher after lessons. Raziya was one of those to benefit from this form of cross-region educational support.

Jiang said she hopes her students have bright futures ahead of them, adding that the seeds sown in that Qira classroom had blossomed during the unexpected encounter in Tianjin.

Qiu Zhixin contributed to this story.