中文
     
    Home> Local
    Blooming flowers
    By Qiu Yijiao ( China Daily )
    Updated: 2010-06-01

    Blooming flowers 

    Children attend a well-equipped primary school, specially built for those from migrant workers' families, in Yichang, Hubei province. Wen Zhenxiao / Asia News Photo

    A school teacher draws on personal experience to paint an intimate portrayal of migrant-worker children in her much-acclaimed work. Qiu Yijiao reports

    Xu Ling recalls vividly her early days as a teacher in the late 1990s. A couple came to see her in great distress. Their fifth-grader son had not done well in an exam, earning a strong rebuke from the father. The well-meaning man had only wanted to impress on his son that the ticket to a better life was a good education. But the frightened boy ran away from home.

    After a long search, they found the boy huddled in a corner of the school, ready to take flight again as soon as he spotted them.

    He was reassured only when his father expressed his remorse.

    "I realized then that students from the countryside are very sensitive and fragile psychologically. They look strong and tough because they need to protect themselves in a new environment, but actually break down easily," Xu says in a telephone interview with China Daily.

    According to figures available from the National Committee on Children and Women under the State Council, China has 20 million children of migrant workers living in the cities, struggling to integrate into urban life.

    Their lives have drawn much attention recently and inspired several works of fiction and non-fiction.

    Xu's novel Floating Flowers (Xiwang de Huaduo, Xiwang Publishing House, 2009), selected as one of the Top 10 children's literature works since 1949, draws generously on her experiences to present an intimate account of the lives of these children.

    The novel features a Grade 5 schoolboy Wang Di, who comes from a small town in the west and studies at a public primary school in a southern city. Wang's family has no fixed home and he suffers from inferiority while in the city. He feels shunned and misunderstood by the city kids.

    However, he perseveres and eventually gains confidence, becoming the class monitor and even forming a music band at the end of the novel.

    Some critics have said the novel takes a simplistic approach to a complex issue but Xu says it is important that a book targeted at children carries a message of hope.

    "The novel is imbued with optimism and I have modeled Wang's personality after the students I have encountered," she says, alluding to the boy's strong will and maturity.

    A teacher of 11 years in a primary school in Zhangjiagang, a city in Jiangsu province, Xu, 37, says the number of rural students in her school has trebled over the past decade.

    She says their evasive eyes and timid voices reflect their worries and uncertainties about their new life in the city. "This is a special social phenomenon of our times. Migrant workers lead a tough life in the cities and their children also have to shoulder the burden," Xu says. "But they are only children and they need happiness and encouragement as they are growing up."

    While Xu calls them "floating flowers", she also points to their proud spirit. She recounts one instance when a rural student tore his shirt in a fight with a city peer, but refused a new one from the boy's parents.

    "I see it as my duty to write their stories because apart from their parents, no one else is as close to them. They are like books full of liveliness, but hard to understand," Xu says.

    She adds that she also feels obliged to pay more attention to these children. "Most of their parents are not able to give them adequate support - either materially or emotionally. They have to grow up by themselves."

    Xu says she is very careful about how to talks to, and behaves with, them in front of other students. She believes teachers are role models that shape the attitudes of city children to those from the rural areas. "We teachers can do a lot to make them feel comfortable," Xu says.

    She never hesitates to heap praise on her students and makes sure they have opportunities for class presentations and for taking part in competitions.

    "They are generally happy when they have a sense of belonging and fulfillment. They are all talented children and what they need is recognition and approval."

    Xu says children of migrant workers are easily satisfied, and once they have adjusted to their new surroundings, they are naturally frank, honest and generous.

    Xu once saw a simple sentence carved on her desk: "I want to become a resident of the city."

    "Where city children express their ambitions to become scientists and doctors, my rural students carry simple dreams in their hearts," she says. "I have always believed they will be successful if given equal opportunities. It takes time, but more importantly, society's understanding, love and respect. "

     Blooming flowers

    Xu Ling, a primary school teacher in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu province, plays with her students after class. She is also the author of the award winning novel Floating Flowers.

    (China Daily 06/01/2010 page20)

     
    Video
    Specials



     
     
    亚洲午夜无码久久久久小说| 免费看成人AA片无码视频吃奶| 最近更新免费中文字幕大全| YY111111少妇无码理论片| 中文字幕在线免费看线人| 久久精品无码专区免费青青| 久久久99精品成人片中文字幕 | 亚洲欧美成人久久综合中文网| 国产麻豆天美果冻无码视频| 亚洲AV无码一区二区乱孑伦AS| 在线播放中文字幕 | 在线欧美中文字幕农村电影| 免费A级毛片av无码| 麻豆AV无码精品一区二区| 亚洲va中文字幕无码久久| 999久久久无码国产精品| 亚洲av无码国产精品色午夜字幕| 最近中文字幕mv免费高清视频8| 无码乱码观看精品久久| 狠狠噜天天噜日日噜无码| 亚洲V无码一区二区三区四区观看| 久久亚洲中文字幕精品一区| 制服丝袜中文字幕在线| 狠狠躁天天躁中文字幕无码| 伊人久久无码精品中文字幕| 好硬~好爽~别进去~动态图, 69式真人无码视频免| 亚洲AV无码专区在线播放中文| 最好看的电影2019中文字幕| 中文字幕夜色资源网站| 天堂а√在线地址中文在线 | 亚洲日本va中文字幕久久| 无码 免费 国产在线观看91 | 中文字幕无码免费久久| 中文字幕久久波多野结衣av| 中文字幕一精品亚洲无线一区| 亚洲中文字幕在线第六区| 日韩av无码中文字幕| av区无码字幕中文色| 中文字幕第3页| 制服丝袜日韩中文字幕在线| 中文字幕日韩欧美|