Centenarian reminisces on 40 years of teaching

Whenever retired teacher Luo Qixia passes by a primary school, she cannot help but pause and look fondly at the school for a while-a habit that emanated from her lifelong contribution to rural education.

Coming from a small village in Wangjiang county of Anhui province, Luo did not attend sishu, or traditional private school, until she was 8 years old. Sishu were usually run by families and mainly taught Chinese classics. It was her father who made relentless efforts to convince the school to enroll their first female student.

"After I was admitted, our neighbor followed suit and sent their daughter to the sishu," says the 100-year-old. "I am so grateful to my parents for sending me to the school as it was rare for girls to receive education back in the 1920s."

However, Luo's parents could not afford to buy her textbooks, but they managed to pay the tuition fee from their meager funds. So, Luo developed a habit of copying whatever the teacher wrote on the blackboard into her own notebook.

Even now, she copies parts of government documents from newspapers, a practice that she believes has helped her brain stay active and informed of the country's latest developments.

In 1946, Luo became a Chinese teacher at a local primary school.

"I was teaching seven students from the first and third grades and they used to share the same classroom. The third-grade students had to study by themselves when I taught the other class and vice versa," says the centenarian, recalling the bygone era.

To encourage more children to study, Luo went door to door after school, visiting families and persuading the parents to let their children receive education despite their grinding poverty.

Luo succeeded in her endeavor as her classroom expanded from seven students to 51 in just over a year.

Luo's two daughters were also in her class. Yet, she devoted more time to the other students than her own children.

"My mother rarely asked me to answer questions in class although I raised my hand high, as she wanted to give more chances to other students," says Tao Tao, Luo's second daughter.

During the summer holidays, Luo offered free daycare lessons to the students whose parents had to work in the fields.

She cannot remember the exact number of students she has taught during her teaching career that spanned more than 42 years. But Luo does know well about the students who have become university professors, civil servants and diplomats, as she takes immense pride in their success.

In 1983, Luo was awarded the honorary title of "outstanding worker of children's cause" by the education department of Anhui. She is the only person in her county to receive this honor.

A year later, she submitted her application for membership to the Communist Party of China. Considering Luo's performance and consistent contributions to rural education, the Party branch at her workplace approved her application.

Luo did not retire until she was 68 years old, working an additional 13 years beyond the retirement age for women in China. In 2018, the Ministry of Education presented her with an honorary certificate for teaching in rural schools for more than three decades.

She was offered promotion several times, which would give her the opportunity to leave her teaching position. But she turned it down every time, firmly insisting on working as a primary schoolteacher. Luo had taught at five different schools in total before retiring.

When Luo turned 100 in April, four staff members from one of her former schools-including the school's president-drove from Wangjiang to the provincial capital Hefei, where Luo lives with her daughters. They presented her with a plaque as a gesture of their gratitude and appreciation for her service to the school.

Luo still enjoys taking down notes as long as her health permits.

"My hands tremble a lot these days and I sometimes cannot remember many Chinese characters, but I won't give up, just like my lifelong pursuit of teaching," Luo writes in her diary.