Students have a class at Huaping Senior High School for Girls in Huaping County, Lijiang City, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, Dec. 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen)
LIJIANG, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) — Each morning at Huaping High School for Girls in Yunnan Province, the schoolyard rings with a bold pledge, “I was born to be a mountain not a creek, rising to the high peaks with the valleys at my feet.” Behind that voice stands Zhang Guimei, the school’s founder and principal. In her sixties and struggling with illness, she still devotes more than 18 hours a day to her students. Megaphone in hand, she has become a living symbol of how education can open doors that poverty once closed.
Founded in 2008, Huaping High School for Girls is the country’s first senior high school to offer free education for girls. The school in mountainous Yunnan Province has created a miracle, with more than 2,000 graduates — most of whom come from low-income rural families — admitted to colleges and universities. Many of them later became teachers, doctors and civil servants, fulfilling their aspirations.
Zhang Guimei (3rd L) checks meal service at Huaping Senior High School for Girls in Huaping County, Lijiang City, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, Dec. 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen)Zhang Guimei (L) is pictured at a classroom at Huaping Senior High School for Girls in Huaping County, Lijiang City, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, Dec. 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen)Students head for the canteen after class at Huaping Senior High School for Girls in Huaping County, Lijiang City, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, Dec. 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen)A teacher grades exam papers at Huaping Senior High School for Girls in Huaping County, Lijiang City, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, Dec. 24, 2025. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen)A teacher tutors a student during the evening self-study class at Huaping Senior High School for Girls in Huaping County, Lijiang City, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, Dec. 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen)Students practice chorus at Huaping Senior High School for Girls in Huaping County, Lijiang City, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, Dec. 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen)Students have meals at the canteen of Huaping Senior High School for Girls in Huaping County, Lijiang City, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, Dec. 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen)An aerial drone photo taken on Dec. 24, 2025 shows a view of the Huaping Senior High School for Girls in Huaping County, Lijiang City, southwest China’s Yunnan Province. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen)■
