Blockbuster series charts principal's course

TV drama explores extraordinary dedication of renowned educator to her rural students in Yunnan, Xu Fan reports.

In remote and rugged mountains, Zhang Guimei, a determined middle-aged rural teacher, makes her way wearily toward a dilapidated village home. The mission she faces is challenging, as she needs to prevent a 14-year-old girl from making the misguided decision to abandon her education.

The girl's father, an alcoholic, is trying to coerce her to support the family by marrying a stranger in exchange for a dowry of 30,000 yuan ($4,245).

This poignant scenario takes place in the acclaimed TV series She and Her Girls, which has earned a remarkable score of 9.4 out of 10 points on the popular review aggregator Douban, making it the highest-rated Chinese drama on the platform this year.

With Song Jia playing the lead role of Zhang, the biographical drama is adapted from the real-life experiences of the female middle school principal, a trailblazing educator who founded the Huaping Senior High School for Girls in Lijiang, Yunnan province, in 2008.