Shenyang native finds 'family' in Xinjiang

Editor's note: Xinjiang is known for its colorful landscape and diverse culture. China Daily explores this beautiful region through its many faces and facets.

Zhou Lina has found her calling as a kindergarten teacher in the southern Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

"My dream of being a teacher came true here. I won't leave here, leave my children and my beloved family," said Zhou, who works in Artux, a city in Kizilsu prefecture.

Zhou became a teacher less than four years ago, when she ranked first in a teacher recruitment test in the prefecture.

A former clothes seller in her hometown of Shenyang, Liaoning province, Zhou moved to Artux with her Uygur husband, Nasrula Umar, in 2000.

The two met and fell in love in 1993 when Nasrula Umar sold barbecued food in Shenyang.

"He is honest and dutiful," Zhou said. "His mother asked me when we first met in 1994 if I wanted to marry him. I agreed with no hesitation."

In 1997, the couple were married in Shenyang. "We went back and forth between Shenyang and Artux several times before we decided to settle here (in Kayilak, a village administered by Artux) in 2000," Zhou said.

Zhou admitted that it was hard to get used to living in the remote village.

However, she said, "Life's happy as long as you're with your loved ones."

Zhou was a full-time homemaker until 2006, when she was invited to be an entry-level Mandarin teacher in the central primary school of Shang'atushi township.

The salary was low - 300 yuan ($48) a month. But Zhou was more than happy to take the position.

"I'd long wanted to become a teacher," she said.

"I taught them how to pronounce 'Zhou laoshi' ('Teacher Zhou'). They had called me 'Zhou laoshu' ", Zhou recalled. Laoshu is Mandarin for "mouse".

"That encouraged me to teach them well."

She soon became a key teacher in the school and appraised as an excellent teacher several times.

She served at the school for four years before she became a tenured teacher, and works at a nearby kindergarten.

Sapula Musha, a Uygur boy studying in a junior school of Shihezi in northern Xinjiang, often comes to visit Zhou during holidays. "She was kind to everyone. I learned much from her because she was the best Mandarin teacher in our school," Sapula said.

Zhou said now she's content with her life. Her family has a monthly income of less than 4,000 yuan, nearly 1,000 of it from her husband, who works as a security guard at another kindergarten.

They provide 50 to 100 yuan every month to poor students.

"I cannot stand to see students drop out of school, so I must help them," Zhou said.

gaobo@chinadaily.com.cn