Li Hao

SHE is known as “the most beautiful Shenzhen girl” in the impoverished mountainous areas of Southwest China’s Guizhou Province.

She has helped raise more than 3.7 million yuan (US$571,000) in donations for the underdeveloped educational infrastructure in the province’s poor villages since 2006.

Thanks to her efforts, six schools have been and will be built in rural Guizhou; more than 300 students are expected to receive subsidies; over 3,000 desks and around 5,000 school uniforms were sent to the area.

She is Sun Ying, a 31-year-old woman, who started in 2006 as a voluntary teacher in rural Guizhou and has since been raising funds for the area’s education.

She is determined to bring hope to rural students.

First touch

Born in Liaoyuan City in Jilin Province, Sun came to Shenzhen in January 2006 after graduating from Changchun University of Science and Technology and worked as an accountant in an information technology company.

She stood out from over 100 candidates to apply for a government-sponsored voluntary teaching program in Guizhou in July that year and quit her job the next month, heading to Anshan Primary School in Dashui Village, the most remote and underdeveloped place in the province’s Dafang County.

“My family lived near a school for the children of miners. My mother often helped pay tuition fees for the poorer children, which impressed me,” said Sun, who was supported by her parents in becoming a voluntary teacher.

Although mentally prepared for the difficulties she might face, Sun Ying was still shocked by her first sight of the school Aug. 29 2006.

“There was a shabby two-storey teaching building surrounded by mountains. It was built in 1963. The school had no gate, no teacher’s desk, no teaching instruments, and a dirt playground. None of the window glasses in the building was complete,” recalled Sun.

“The only electricity was the lighting and I used to go a month and a half without bathing,”said Sun.

The most unbearable thing for Sun, a Fine Art teacher, was being alone at night in the early weeks.

However, the local villagers and students did not treat her as an outsider.

Students called Sun “aunt” and parents brought her self-planted vegetables and crops.

“I did not expect such appreciation from the villagers. It deeply touched me and encouraged me to persist. I was trying to fulfill my duty as a voluntary teacher,” Sun wrote on her blog.

When Sun’s first voluntary stint ended in January 2007, she applied for another.

More than just teaching

At the beginning of March 2007, Sun led a voluntary teaching team to Guizhou. This time, her destination was Anshan Primary School again but she planned to do more than just teaching.

Sun contacted the sponsor of the voluntary teaching program, Xu Lingfeng, who helped raise money to build a new teaching building at the school.

Sun was later appointed vice principal of the school and contacted people in Shenzhen and Beijing seeking donations of teaching material.

Since then, Sun has served working as a bridge between potential donors and schools in the most undeveloped parts of Guizhou.

Many other teaching buildings were constructed in the area thanks to Sun’s work.

With her help, more than 100 students from poor backgrounds have found regular donors.

Help extended

In the past five years, Sun has visited the homes of more than 300 poor students at eight rural schools in the province, publishing their stories on her blog or through friends in search of potential donors. Her blog also includes a thank-you note to each donor.

In addition, she got involved in each stage of the construction of the schools, ensuring that each penny was well spent.

“Sun was essential in every stage of the process and refused to keep any of the money herself. Instead, she asked to use the money saved from the construction to buy books and stationery for children,” said Hong Xiao, president of a Taiwan hardware company in Shenzhen, which was one of the donors.

Sun’s responsibility and dedication earned her the full trust of donors.

In others’ eyes

“I thought Sun Ying was a little bit naive. She seemed to underestimate the misery of living in such a poor area. But, to my surprise, she didn’t let the difficulties prevent her from staying the course,” recalled Xu Ping, chief of Yangchang Town in the province’s Dafang County.

“I always encouraged her to leave, find a steady job or get married. Each time she ignored me,” said Xu.

It was heart-wrenching for Shen Yiyong, the director of the publicity department of Dafang County Government, to see Sun suffer from heart illness due to excess fatigue and lack of nutrition.

“I tried in vain to drive her back to Shenzhen many times,” said Shen.

During her years of voluntary work, Sun had no income.

She spent all her savings and over 40,000 yuan of her parents’ money.

Shenzhen Care Project Office offered to employ Sun in August 2009, but she quit three months later, going back to the mountainous areas of Guizhou.

On the way

“I really like the cause I am engaged in and will stick to it,” said Sun.

She has been chosen by the Shenzhen Care Project Office to establish a Web site to connect needy children in rural areas to caring donors.

The Web site is scheduled to open in Mid-July.

What occupies Sun’s mind is always the children in the mountains although she has been given many honorary titles by the government.

Shenzhen Press Group has offered to buy Sun social insurance to support her caring cause.