Four Girls From Tanchang Travel 1,700 km to Tianjin University, Bound by a Shared Dream

This summer, four girls from Tanchang County, Longnan City, Gansu Province — Xu Youyou, Ma Yiting, Han Yiting and Han Jiaying — all received admission offers from Tianjin University, some 1,700 kilometers away from their hometown. Behind the four offers is a 23-year story of commitment and continuity: the Tianjin University Graduate Volunteer Teaching Program.

Since 2003, Tianjin University has sent 324 graduate student volunteers to teach in primary and secondary schools across China. Generation after generation, Tianjin University students have stepped into classrooms where they were most needed, bringing knowledge and carrying forward the University motto of "Seeking Truth from Facts."

In Tanchang, the impact of the Tianjin University Graduate Volunteer Teaching Program has reached far beyond the classroom.

During the 23rd cohort of the program, a volunteer teacher surnamed Jia made history classes engaging through group activities, a points-based reward system, stories and mnemonics. For Xu Youyou, it was the first time she realized that "learning is about more than memorizing textbooks."

When Xu Hao, a member of the 24th cohort, took over her physics class, he arrived early every day, kept his blackboard writing neat, and reviewed students’ exam papers individually. After one exam, he took the entire class to the school playground and told them the story behind Tianjin University’s motto, "Seeking Truth from Facts."

"I felt the power of belief when we shouted the motto together that day," Xu Youyou recalled.

Shortly before the senior high school entrance examination, Jia, who had already completed his teaching assignment in Tanchang, made a special trip back from Tianjin. He brought Xu Youyou a keychain bearing the words "May You Achieve Top Honors." She has kept it ever since.

The connection forged by the program has also extended beyond the classroom. The "Flowers in Bloom, Dreams Come True; A Bright Future Awaits" letter-exchange program has been running for seven years. It has brought together 1,269 volunteers and facilitated nearly 5,000 letters between volunteers and students.

Even after returning to Tianjin University, the volunteer teachers have continued corresponding with their students, allowing the connection to live on through letters.

Xu Youyou once received a letter quoting a line from Su Shi’s Ode to the Red Cliffs: "Like a mayfly between heaven and earth, a tiny grain in the vast ocean." When she later encountered the passage in high school, she suddenly understood its meaning in a new way: "The world is so big. I want to go out and see it."

Han Jiaying discovered that her pen pal was also in Class 9 in high school. Han Yiting still remembers that her pen pal used the word "shangque," meaning "to discuss or deliberate carefully," in one of their letters — an expression that left a deep impression on her for its sense of rigor and humility in learning. Ma Yiting received a Tianjin University bookmark and badge from her pen pal.

Twenty-three years of dedicated work have helped turn dreams into reality, one after another.

In 2025, Tanchang student Gu Wenbing was admitted to Tianjin University. For the four years before his admission, Tianjin University faculty and students had provided him with a monthly scholarship of 500 yuan without interruption. Now a Tianjin University student himself, Gu has used the "Cloud Classroom" platform to share career-planning advice with younger students.

Over the past three years, five students from Tanchang who were influenced by the volunteer teaching program have been admitted to Tianjin University.

The numbers tell part of the story. The program has delivered an average of more than 10,000 class hours per year. Its "Cloud Classroom" has offered more than 180 sessions and reached over 40,000 students. The letter-exchange program has connected with 4,634 students in western China. The volunteers have also established "Dream Computer Classrooms," helped students win provincial-level science and technology awards, and seen their work featured more than 160 times by over 40 media outlets, including the Chinese government website and People’s Daily Online.

"After I arrive at Tianjin University, I also want to do something like this," Ma Yiting said.

Han Yiting hopes to tell younger students in Tanchang: "Through hard work, you can see a much bigger world."

Han Jiaying believes that "you should go out and see the world. There is a vast world out there, with countless possibilities."

From 2003 to 2026, from the banks of the Haihe River to the mountains of southern Gansu, generations of Tianjin University students have made the same choice: to stand firmly at the front of the classroom.

They have taught knowledge, but also helped children see a world beyond their hometowns.

Xu Youyou, Ma Yiting, Han Yiting and Han Jiaying are four young women whose dreams have taken root — and whose stories now echo 23 years of dedication.

This summer, they will walk through the gates of Tianjin University.

Across mountains and seas, the 23-year relay continues.

By: Yu Boyang