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PRINCIPAL WHO RAISED FUNDS TO HELP OVER 10,000 STUDENTS REMEMBERED

March 22, 2015 – 5:05 am

Dead at 59 but this Chinese school principal will likely be remembered for decades.

Early morning at Guangxi province, Du’an Yao autonomous county seat, on March 15, 2015. Thousands appeared, wiping away tears, to say farewell to the former Du’an Yao autonomous county high school principal, Mo Zhengao.

On March 9, 2015, the 59-year-old principal passed away from illness [reports said he died from a heart attack]. The funeral wreaths came from the entire county, with alumni rushing back from Beijing and Shanghai; and top schools such as Tsinghua University’s Recruitment Office sent their condolences.

Over his 30-year-career in education, Mo had collected donations and contributions from wherever he could, to help over 10,000 impoverished students from the mountainous region to continue their studies. He is hailed by these impoverished children as “Principal Dad”.

Why did the passing of an ordinary school principal cause such a big commotion? Teachers say Mo Zhengao’s life was a life of helping children study, allowing them to escape the impoverished mountainous areas of Yao.

Why did the passing of an ordinary school principal cause such a big commotion? Teachers say Mo Zhengao’s life was a life of helping children study, allowing them to escape the impoverished mountainous areas of Yao.

Guangxi province Du’an Yao autonomous county is a major target of the country’s poverty alleviation and economic development work. Here, “the natural environment is very poor, it is impoverished in the mountains, and the children study extremely hard”. Despite being a county high school, Du’an High School is quite well-known throughout all of Guangxi. For 20 years, Du’An High School students have entered top schools like Tsinghua University and Peking University, with nearly one-third of the students achieving scores qualifying them for first-tier universities.

Mo had worked at Du’an High School for 37 years and news of his death quickly spread. According to the school’s entrance guard, Wei Rong, a former student had hurried back and upon reaching the school’s entrance, began crying loudly.

Wei Yuhua, 19, is a second-year high school student. In tears, she said that when she learnt of the principal’s death during class, the teacher and students together began crying, knowing that the person who was the first at school every day, and on windy and rainy days used the school’s public announcement system to remind everyone to dress warmly, would be forever gone. On the evening of March 9, all 4,600 students of the school turned off the lights to observe a three-minute silence for Mo.

People who knew and even those who did not know Mo came to offer their condolences. The owner of a flower wreath shop in the county said he doesn’t know Mo but people ordering flower wreaths packed the little shop, with many buyers being forced to go to nearby Mashan county, Hechi city, and Nanning city to buy wreaths.

Former students who rushed back included 70 of the 129 students who graduated from Du’an High School in 1991. Tsinghua University’s Recruitment Office, East China Normal University’s Higher Education Research Institute and many other universities and higher education organizations went out of their way to send their condolences. Several alumni who graduated from Du’an High School who are currently abroad - these included professors from Harvard University and Ohio State University in the United States - sent letters of condolences.

Within two days of Mo’s passing, the number of views on “Du’an High School Mo Zhengao” at Sina Weibo reached 260,000, with the news also dominating many people’s WeChat.

“Every time a student drops out of school to return home, the principal would personally or have the head teacher go to the student’s home, and bring him back,” Wei Xifeng says. One thing the principal often said was, “No matter what, first come back to school, and I’ll figure out a way.”

Du’an High School Financial Aid Office director Wei Xifeng says 40 per cent of Du’an High School’s students to this day remain impoverished students (”underprivileged” students) and that many years ago, there were even more. “Even if the school waives tuition, textbook expenses, dormitory expenses, as well as monthly living expenses, it still adds up to approximately 4,000 yuan (US$647) every year, and many impoverished families are unable to bear such a heavy financial burden,” said Wei.

Children dropping out of school due to poverty pained Mo. “Every time a student drops out of school to return home, the principal would personally or have the head teacher go to the student’s home, and bring him back,” Wei added. One thing the principal often said was, “No matter what, first come back to school, and I’ll figure out a way.”

Lan Yufeng, 60, wipes away his tears in the funeral hall. In 1998, his son, Lan Cheng, passed the entrance test into Du’an High School but because their family only had three mu of land (2,000 sq m), Lan Cheng was about to drop out of school. It was Mo who brought Lan Cheng back to class and, from that point on, his family never had to pay a single cent. Lan Yufeng says his son has already graduated with a PhD, left the mountain, and is now in Beijing. According to Yao customs, elders cannot attend the funerals of those younger than them, but he doesn’t care, as he wants to send off the principal.

On various occasions, Mo Zhengao would say: “My student has qualified for university but doesn’t have the money to go, so can you help?” As a result, he has been called the “Begging Principal”, while the students call him “Principal Dad”.

In order for the students to continue with their studies, Mo also appealed for help from charities, companies, and compassionate individuals in society. On various occasions, Mo would say: “My student has qualified for university but doesn’t have the money to go, so can you help?” As a result, he has been called the “Begging Principal”, while the students call him “Principal Dad”. One incident that many remember: Mo Zhengao went to the city for a meeting, and when a former student wanted to treat him to a meal, Mo refused, but when the student repeatedly insisted, Mo suggested that the cost of the meal be used to help impoverished students instead.

In 2014, approximately 200 students at Mo’s school received between 200 and over 400 yuan in financial assistance every month. Over the past few years, Mo successively raised over 30 million yuan in donations, subsidizing over 18,000 impoverished students in fulfilling their dreams of going to college.

Mo “had to oversee” every aspect of the school: when the sun rose in winter, he would repeatedly urge everyone to air out the dormitory’s blankets in the sun; when students encountered rain while exercising, Mo’s voice would sound through the school’s PA system: “Sweetened ginger soup has been prepared in the canteen. Students who have been in the rain, please go drink it.”

On the eve of the Lantern Festival [part of the Lunar New Year festivites], while lying on his sick bed, Mo had called the school, requesting that the canteen prepare glutinous rice balls (which is eaten for the Lantern Festival) and provide them for free to all the third-year (senior) high school students. “The principal said this was very important, that every student had to get at least 10 glutinous rice balls each,” said Wei Xifeng. Five days later, Mo Zhengao forever departed from the students he cared so much for.

Note: The above article originally appeared on the Chinese website, NetEase (163.com). It was translated by Fauna and posted at chinaSMACK. Fauna is a mysterious young Shanghainese girl who lives in the only place a Shanghainese person would ever want to live: Shanghai. In mid-2008, she started chinaSMACK to combine her hobby of browsing Chinese internet forums with her goal of improving her English.

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