The book， Home， Sweet Home： Chinese Families’ Stories in New Era， depicts the stories of 20 families （including the National Most Beautiful Families and families from China’s Hong Kong， Macao， and Taiwan）. To advocate family virtues and good family traditions， the All-China Women’s Federation （ACWF） launched the “Looking for the Most Beautiful Families” Campaign in February 2014. While reading the stories， you might be impressed by the families’ dedication to combating the novel coronavirus disease （COVID-19）， fighting poverty， invigorating the country through science and education， providing volunteer services for environmental protection， promoting ethnic groups’ unity and mutual assistance， inheriting fine traditional Chinese culture， and promoting international exchanges.

Home， Sweet Home： Chinese Families’ Stories in New Era

China Women Publishing House

Compiled by Liaison Department of the All-China Women’s Federation

Social Liaison， Exchanges and Cooperation Center of the All-China Women’s Federation

（Women’s Foreign Language Publications of China）

December 2021

58.00 （CNY）

A couple of teachers from a high school in North China’s Shanxi Province have worked wholeheartedly over the past 17 years to send more students to prestigious universities and positively transform their lives with knowledge.

Xing Baoming and his wife Wang Ying gave it a shot to be teachers in the No.1 Middle School in Linxian County， Lyuliang， a mountainous city in Shanxi Province， after they graduated from Shanxi Normal University in 2004.

It was Wang who initially came up with the idea to teach in the poverty-stricken county for five years under a plan for education-oriented assistance in a drive to contribute her efforts to the national poverty-alleviation campaign. Xing chose to decline an employment offer from a scientific research institute in Taiyuan， the capital city of Shanxi， so as to stay together with his then-girlfriend.

Teaching in Their Second Hometown

At the beginning of their arrival in Linxian， both Xing and Wang could not understand the local dialect very well， and none of their relatives and friends lived there. The couple recalled staying in the school over the holidays when their colleagues and students returned home. In addition， there were no modern teaching facilities for them to undertake normal instructions.

Nevertheless， the couple chose to stay behind， bent on winning the recognition and trust of the people around them through a sound performance in academic instruction.

Xing and Wang got married in 2006， and their first son was born the next year.

Achieving Life Goals Together

The appointment as head teacher in his class and other parallel classes of the school in 2008 gave Xing additional incentives to strive for excellence in the workplace. Ever since then， Xing has arrived at the school at six in the morning and returned home at ten at night each day.

Later， Wang gave up her own post as a head teacher in order to fully support Xing’s work. Though there are also lots of academic tasks for her to do in the school， Wang voluntarily takes on most household chores. Xing also does household chores when he is not busy with academic assignments.

The common goal of Xing and Wang is to impart knowledge， cultivate students， and build a harmonious family. It was that joint dream that persuaded the couple to stay behind when the term of their instruction service came to an end in 2009.

Efforts Paid Off

Xing was excited and fully relaxed when two of his students in 2018 were admitted into Tsinghua University and Peking University， two of China’s top universities， respectively. He had waited for the moment ever since his arrival in the county.

In addition， six of Xing’s students received admission letters the same year from Zhejiang University， another top higher education institution in China. Many of his students were enrolled in other key universities across the country.

According to the school， it was the best result that it had achieved since its establishment in 1952. Over 1，000 former students of Xing have enrolled in universities and colleges since he entered the school 17 years ago.

Xing says that the emphasis of General Secretary of the Communist Party of China （CPC） Central Committee Xi Jinping upon the importance of education in poverty alleviation since the 18th CPC national Congress （held in 2012） has given him firm momentum to continue with his unfinished cause in the years ahead in Linxian， which has become a second hometown for him and his wife.

“We will take root in the mountainous area of Lyuliang and continue to teach well and help more children realize their dreams of entering their target universities and colleges，” Xing added.