Comments reveal lasting impact of volunteer teachers

A short video posted by a Douyin blogger has unexpectedly turned into a digital reunion — not in person, but in a comments section overflowing with gratitude, where former students from rural China have come forward to share how volunteer teachers changed their lives.

The video, posted by blogger "Shujiyuyu" in early June, features scenes from the blogger's volunteer teaching days in rural Gansu province. It has attracted more than 2.5 million likes and 300,000 shares. As one netizen quipped: "The trailer is the video; the real movie is in the comments."

According to the comments, some former students are now university students, soldiers or scholars abroad. Others live modest but contented lives. All remember the volunteer teacher who saw potential in them when no one else did.

One of the most heart-wrenching stories came from a young woman from a Hui ethnic family in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region. The 19-year-old's name was Yingdi — literally meaning "welcoming a little brother" — reflecting her family's desire for a son.

When she was a child, her parents tried to pull her out of school to care for her younger sisters and prepare for an early marriage. Her volunteer teacher refused to accept that fate.

The teacher called the police and, contacted the civil affairs authorities, the women's federation and the local education bureau. After repeated visits and interventions — during which the family even chased officials away — a joint meeting involving the four agencies finally secured Yingdi's right to attend school.

Today, Yingdi is a first-year student at Hunan Normal University.

This summer, Yingdi and her boyfriend plan to travel to Xingping, Shaanxi province, to volunteer as teachers for two months. After graduating, she plans to sign a contract with the school and remain there as a full-time teacher.

She is recovering from stomach surgery and is being cared for by her boyfriend.

"If not for that teacher, she would have ended up married and having children at an early age. That teacher changed her destiny," her boyfriend said.

Another commenter, Chen Guomin, a 24-year-old graduate student at the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, grew up as a left-behind child in rural Anhui province. Around 2010, a young woman named Sun Chuchu came to teach at his village primary school for a year.

"She was different from the local teachers," he recalled. "She often took us out to play when there was no class."

Just before the final exams, he came down with a fever. Sun took him to a the clinic for an IV drip. His grateful grandparents later sent her sweet potatoes from their farm as a token of appreciation. Before leaving, she gave him a signed photograph of herself which he still keeps at home.

"She told me, 'You need to get well soon, or our class's grades won't look so good,'" he said with a laugh.

Chen was a top student at the time. Although his grades slipped in middle school, he eventually went on to university and graduate school.

He still remembers Sun's face.

"We classmates often talk about her," he said. "She left a mark that never fades."

Zhao Qin, 25, from a mountain village in Liupanshui, Guizhou province, also shared her story.

When she was in second and third grades, two groups of about eight students from Guizhou University came to teach at her village school during winter breaks, each staying for a month.

One math teacher, Zhou Kun, stood out.

"He was so patient and gentle," Zhao said. "Before him, I didn't even know what learning meant. My math scores were in the single digits. He was the one who opened that door for me."

She later became his math class representative.

After Zhou left, Zhao copied his QQ number from the blackboard, although she did not know what QQ was at the time. Years later, she searched for the account and eventually reconnected with him. They still keep in touch. When she told him she had been admitted to a university in Wuhan, Hubei province, he was pleasantly surprised.

Zhao is now the first woman in her village to earn a college degree. Of the four girls she grew up with, two are already mothers of two or three children, living what she described as the same cycle of poverty and early marriage.

Last year, after graduating, Zhao returned to Guizhou to volunteer as a teacher for two months as a quiet way of repaying the kindness she once received.

The comments section is filled with similar stories. One former student is now a soldier. Another is pursuing a doctorate in environmental science at the University of Tokyo.

One young woman who did not attend university wrote: "Teacher, I'm Cai Xia — I let you down. I didn't get into college. I'm a housewife with a son and a daughter, a reliable husband, and a happy family. I still thank you for your encouragement."

These personal stories are not isolated cases.

China has long invested in strengthening its rural teaching workforce. The special post teacher program, launched in 2006, has recruited about 1.18 million college graduates to teach in rural schools across 22 central and western provincial-level regions. In 2025 alone, the program aims to recruit another 21,000 teachers, prioritizing formerly impoverished areas, ethnic minority regions and key counties for rural revitalization.

In addition, the "Silver Age" program recruits retired teachers — 7,000 in 2025 — to bring their experience to rural classrooms.