There is still mist in the early morning in Jinping Miao, Yao and Dai Autonomous County, Honghe Prefecture, Yunnan. This is a mountain city. The No. 1 primary school in the county is built on a high ground. To enter the school, you have to climb 120 stone steps first. Children ran up the steps in small groups, shouting from a distance, “Hello, principal!” “Hello, teacher!” Ran Hongyan, the principal of Jinping County No. 1 Primary School, responded one by one. Occasionally, children from lower grades came up to touch her pigtails.
Such excitement was not available when Ran Hongyan first became a teacher. From a general teacher in a border rural school to a principal of a primary school with more than 2,000 students, Ran Hongyan has been rooted in Jinping for thirty years. During this time, she taught both children and their parents. Looking back, she said that many of her choices were first learned from her parents – the lines she drew on the sand during those years and the names she was taught to write down in literacy classes at night were all the “first lessons” her parents taught her.
Paintbrush in the Sand: “First Lesson” in the Countryside
Ran Hongyan’s parents are both teachers.
Her father didn’t talk much and was serious. He once said to her: “You should be a teacher like us and help the children in the countryside.” She remembered that her parents often brought sick students or students with family difficulties to their homes, and the whole family would squeeze into the same table to eat. “They were never afraid of trouble.”
Slowly, Ran Hongyan also learned to bring people home. When she was in elementary school, she often took home her classmates who lived on campus. “Most of these children’s families live in surrounding villages and their lives are not well-off,” she recalled. One time, her parents went out for a meeting, and she brought back a group of classmates. Everyone ate around the table and scooped up a jar of sauerkraut at home. “When my parents came home, they didn’t blame me at all.”
In 1996, Ran Hongyan, who was in her early twenties, returned to Jinping and taught at Qila Primary School in Jinshuihe Town. She told reporters that there was a shortage of teachers at that time, and one teacher often taught one class, including Chinese, mathematics, ideological and moral character, science, music, art, and physical education.
Art class is a problem. No drawing board, no brushes, no paper. Ran Hongyan came up with a “clever idea”: she took the children to the sand next to the school, each of them folded a branch and drew on the soft sand.
“I don’t assign a topic in the first class and let them draw what they want to draw.” Ran Hongyan said, “The children have no foundation. If you assign a topic, they will not be able to draw.” The children drew some simple leaves and flowers, leaving lines on the sand. They were crooked, but they drew seriously.
I teach children during the day and teach parents at night.
In the 1990s, in the countryside where she worked, many adults had never been to school. In the evening, the school held literacy classes, and there were often thirty or forty people sitting in the classroom. Facing adult “students” who couldn’t even hold a pen, she taught them how to write their names one stroke at a time. When a young mother pulled her excitedly and said, “I can finally write my own and my child’s names,” Ran Hongyan deeply realized that her child was sitting in the classroom, and there was a family outside the classroom.
Because they had classes together in the evening, she and her parents gradually became familiar with each other. Parents pick some vegetables from the field and send them to the school to give to the teachers; Ran Hongyan talks to them about their children, family, and how to get along with their children. “If we have more contact with parents, the communication between home and school will be smoother, and the children’s growth will be smoother,” she said.
Once, she discovered that a girl in her class had not come to school for several days. After asking the classmates, I found out that the child’s parents had separated and the father felt that there was no need for the child to continue studying.
When she first walked in, the other party was not enthusiastic and didn’t even let her sit down. She told the parents that their children’s grades were good and they could not just stop. “If the family is in trouble and cannot buy books or homework, I will buy them for her. If you have any difficulties, just tell me.” After repeated home visits, my father finally agreed.
Later, the job was transferred and Ran Hongyan had to leave. On the day they left, the children ran after the car and across the suspension bridge, crying as they ran, and she cried too. “I was in charge of a fifth-grade class at the time. If I stayed for two more years, I would be able to accompany them to graduation.”
A good classroom is “hardened” over and over again
With this thought on rural education, Ran Hongyan was transferred to the principal of Jinping County No. 1 Primary School in 2011. Facing this century-old school, she did not rush to “three things to do when a new official takes office”. Instead, she talked to the teachers one by one, old teachers and young teachers, almost all the time.
“If you want to reform, you must first know where the problem is,” she said.
The first thing she focused on was the classroom. The first thing is to let all school committee members return to class. She will teach by herself, and the deputy must also take charge of the class. Then the “Green Blue Project” was launched, in which young teachers became apprentices and were guided by experienced teachers. At the same time, new teachers were given “three passes” – first pass the master pass, then pass the teaching and research group pass, and finally take open classes for the whole school. If you can’t pass it, keep grinding until you reach the standard. She will call the master together to analyze the specific problems of young teachers, whether it is writing on the blackboard, teaching design, or classroom interaction. She also listened carefully to the lectures and picked out each item.
“The quality of the 40 minutes in class is critical. If the education method is not right, these children will be delayed. Only when they pass the test can they stand firm on the stage.” She paused and said, “If the quality of the class is not up to standard, it is the children who will be delayed.”
To this day, as long as time permits, she still sits in the classroom to listen to open classes, collective lesson preparation, and teaching competitions. Before attending the class, she first read the textbooks to familiarize herself with the unit requirements, teacher’s books and new curriculum standards, and did her homework first. “I don’t have it in my heart, how can I mention it to the teacher?” Ran Hongyan said.
Vice Principal Chen Liang still remembers that Principal Ran helped him polish a class. From the first period in the morning to the end of school in the afternoon, he didn’t even bother to eat lunch, so he revised it over and over again. “The pressure was very high at the time,” Chen Liang said, “but looking back now, I have indeed grown a lot.”
Ran Hongyan pays close attention to the quality of the classroom, but she knows that if children from the border areas want to narrow the gap with the mainland, textbook knowledge alone is not enough. Therefore, while focusing on the 40-minute class, she strongly promoted the opening of the second class.
After coming to school, she successively organized and opened dozens of second classes and clubs. Chorus, drums, science and technology, painting, embroidery, batik… If you can find a teacher, start teaching as much as possible, and try to use the equipment you can buy.
When the fixed activity time comes, the children go separately to the classes that interest them. “If he can sing, let him sing. If he wants to draw, let him draw. If he likes to talk, let him talk.” Ran Hongyan said.
This approach is related to her own growth experience. She remembers that she used to feel scared when she went out to study and stood up to speak. Later, when she became a principal, she became more and more concerned about creating opportunities for her children to go on stage, speak, and show off. “I hope to narrow the gap between children from the border areas and those from the mainland as much as possible.”
“To give a child a glass of water, you must first have a bucket of water.” With this idea in mind, in 2006, Ran Hongyan, who had been working at the rural podium for ten years, was admitted to Yunnan Normal University to major in Chinese language and literature. In her view, only by having solid knowledge and excellent literacy can we provide children with a better education.
“The four years I spent studying at Yunnan Normal University not only accumulated professional knowledge systematically, but also shaped my character and benefited me throughout my life. The school motto of my alma mater, ‘Fortitude and Perseverance’, still affects me to this day.” She spoke solemnly when mentioning her alma mater.
Let the “colorful butterflies” fly out of the valley
There is a place in Jinping called Ma’andi, which is the “Red River Butterfly Valley of China”. Every May and June, hundreds of millions of arrow-ringed butterflies emerge together and fill the mountains and plains.
Jinping Primary School has children from 14 ethnic groups, including Miao, Yao, Dai, Han, Lahu and Brown, and 70% of the students are from ethnic minorities. Ran Hongyan hopes that children of all ethnic groups will shuttle among the flowers like butterflies, learn unity and respect, and “break out of cocoons and become butterflies” together.
This expectation later became the school’s “butterfly culture” and was divided into four words: red, harmony, butterfly, and rhyme – “red” is Jinping’s red gene, “harmony” means a harmonious home that embraces multi-ethnic cultures, “butterfly” means focusing on ecological education and harmonious coexistence between man and nature, and “rhyme” is the colorful rhyme of various societies.
The school later had a special name: China-Equatorial Guinea Friendship Primary School. 2015 marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Equatorial Guinea. During his visit to China, President Obiang Nguema Obiang of Equatorial Guinea, on behalf of his government, announced a donation of funds for the renovation and expansion of Jinping County No. 1 Primary School to express his gratitude to China for its long-term help in the development of his country. In 2016, the teaching building was completed and put into use. Jinping County No. 1 Primary School has since had a new name: China-Equatorial Guinea Friendship Primary School. Since then, more and more guests from different countries have visited this frontier primary school.
Initially, Ran Hongyan was worried that her children would be nervous when meeting foreign guests. “Later I found out that I was the one who was nervous.” She laughed.
When visitors enter the campus, children quickly gather around them, talking, taking photos, and communicating. The tour was originally scheduled for half an hour, but sometimes it didn’t last even an hour.
In May 2024, during his visit to China, President Obiang Obiang of Equatorial Guinea had a video connection with school teachers and students in Beijing. The children wrote letters and prepared paintings, embroidery and other works. On the day of the connection, the “Cai Butterfly Choir” composed of children wearing different ethnic costumes sang local ethnic songs.
Ran Hongyan said that her requirements for her children are not complicated: “Just be polite and generous.” She hopes that her children will know that they can face the larger world even though they live in the mountains.
“Butterfly Culture” is not only hung on the wall, but also implemented in action. In school, Ran Hongyan is always solving specific and subtle problems, just to “let every child take off.”
One year, an old man scavenging came to the school. She adopted two children of about the same age. The children have reached school age, but they are encountering difficulties because they do not have a household registration. She started to help go to the relevant departments to go through the formalities. If it didn’t work, she would go again. Later, the child obtained a household registration and finally entered the classroom.
After the old man passed away, Ran Hongyan took the two children into her home and took care of them for a while. Because her own conditions did not meet the requirements for adoption, she continued to contact her, hoping to find a suitable family for her child. Talking about this matter again now, she told reporters that her children have been admitted to college.
The school later established a more fixed pairing assistance system. Party members and school leaders pair up with students in difficulty and continue to pay attention to the children’s study, family and life changes. Every winter, the school also carries out the “Warm Winter Action” to collect “micro-wishes” from children in need and left-behind children. Some need clothes, some need quilts, and some are short of school supplies. The teachers work together to find solutions to solve them one by one.
A colleague called her a “pioneering old scalper”, but she said she felt a little “ashamed”. “One principal cannot hold up the umbrella of school development. The school cannot be run today without every teacher.” Ran Hongyan said.
Thirty years later, the problems faced by education have changed. I used to worry about not having paper and pen, but now I am thinking about how to bring interest cultivation, independent learning and technology education into the classroom.
So she still keeps going out and encourages teachers to go out. As long as I have the opportunity, I will go to other schools to attend classes and study. She said: “Education cannot sit in a well and look at the sky, let alone stop.”
Speaking of class, Ran Hongyan became interested again. “I’m actually better at taking classes,” she said with a smile. After more and more school management work, she would still sit down and listen as soon as she walked into the classroom; she still had to “pick out” any part of the young teacher’s lesson that was not explained thoroughly.
“I don’t have any high requirements.” Ran Hongyan said, “I just want to teach my children well.”
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