Zhang Guimei, the principal of Huaping High School for Girls, has been given the title "Role Model of the Times" for helping girls from poor families.
The school was the first high school in the country to provide free education for girls who would otherwise have, been unable to continue their studies after completing their nine years of education.
Zhang moved to Lijiang at the age of 17 to teach in the middle school in Huaping County. Once, she got badly ill but had no money for the treatment(治疗). With the help of the people there, she was able to get the necessary treatment. "From then on, I told myself that I must do something for those people who helped me," Zhang said.
Slowly, a dream of setting up a free high school for girls in Huaping County appeared in Zhang's heart. From the year of 2002, she began a six-year journey to look for funds(资金). In 2008, Zhang finally set up Huaping High School for Girls at the foot of the Shizi Mountain in Huaping.
Thanks to her efforts, more than 1,800 girls from poor families have entered universities through her education until now.
Zhang has been helping to improve the area as a whole. Influenced by her, many of her students have chosen to teach in poor areas. Now, with Zhang having got the honorary title, education for girls from poor areas will receive more attention.
What she has done will be long remembered and encourage more to follow her example.
