Smile of Spring Bud Girls in Beijing

There was such a special class in Beijing. 30 girls in the class were all special poverty-stricken students, coming from 14 provinces and 10 ethnic groups. During the six years of the middle school study, their school tuition and livelihood expense were all covered by donations of the society; they never wore new clothes, but they donated their income from the part-time job to support their study to the children, who were in need of assistance. They experienced hardship of life, but persisted in self-adherence to become stronger. They were the girl students of the Spring Bud Class of Beijing No. 171 Middle School. They were the children, whose fate was changed by love-heart and, at the same time, who repaid back to the society with the same love-heart

1997 when they first came to Beijing

These were the 30 fortunate girls. In 1997, these “Spring Bud Girls”, who were on the brink of dropout of school, were assisted by “Spring Bud Project” of China Children and Teenagers’ Fund, came to Beijing with high aspiration of their folks at home and fortunately became the first Spring Bud Class students in the capital In 2003 university examination in Beijing, “Spring Bud” reaped remarkable results: 22 reached the enrolment mark of university and college and 3 got the enrolment notice of senior vocational school. Recently, they were accepted continuously by Capital Economic and Trade University,? Capital Normal University, China Agriculture University, Beijing Chemical and Industrial University and China Institute of Women, etc.

Ms.Gu Xiulian presents graduate certificate

Ms. Hao, the teacher in charge of the class, said that “it was not easy for these children. The biggest difference between them and the urban children is that they understand well and are very hardworking. They value their hard-won opportunity to study. Although they did not have the opportunity to enjoy the daily conveniences of the children of the same age, they gained the present result with 10 times efforts of the ordinary children.”

Spring Bud Class in 171 middle school in Beijing

In the graduation ceremony, Madu and other children performed dances and programs compiled and directed by themselves to express their gratitude to their school and teachers. Who could imagine that the ethnic group girls could not understand Pulunghua, nor could they know Han characters. Just like attending foreign language lessons, they did not speak out for three months. Teacher Shen Shuqin told the correspondent that “children like Madu are many in the Spring Bud Class. Although they were very hardworking, their education foundation was not strong enough. To compensate this shortcoming, the school set up special canteen for them, bought stationery for them and had special lessons for them. Special coaches were arranged for some of them.”
The dream of the Spring Bud Girls was to pay back the society.

The first time they visited the Great Wall

Gao Qiuju was a student of Spring Bud Class of Beijing No. 171 Middle School. She was just enrolled into Beijing Chemical and Industrial University, Majoring Computer Science and Technology. In the graduation ceremony, she emotionally said that “we were brought up by the society. The society fostered and educated us. We were given too much care and love by the society. Later on, I will study harder and will not let down the expectations of the society and the trust of the home folks. I will use the knowledge which I have leant to pay back the society.”

The 30 girls have a Japanese father.
There was such a story in the Spring Bud Class. The 30 girls have a Japanese “father”, Mr. Toshu Fukami, President of Japan World Artistic Cultural Development Society. Mr. Toshu Fukami has donated 30 million yuan to China Children and Teenagers’ Fund to build 100 “Spring Bud Primary Schools” for the dropouts of the poverty-stricken areas. This has been the largest sum of individual donation received by China Children and Teenagers’ Fund since its founding.