A disabled woman who runs one of the firt private colleges in China

When "Baigong" was six years old, the Chinese people were liberated and everyone went out in the streets to parade, do the Yangko and play the waist drum, while pupils were waving the red flags and following the adults. Hu still remembered that at that time, on the street of Zhengzhou, people had a warm smile on their faces, and a joy in their hearts.

In 1960, Hu, at that time a senior high school student, was selected into an advanced class and was admitted into the School of Chinese Language and Literature of Zhengzhou University a year ahead. Going to college, Hu only brought seven flour bags, of which six were pieced together to substitute the mattress and one was stuffed with clothes to be a pillow.

In 1964, Hu filled her work allocation form with the following: Tibet, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia. "My wish is to do what my country needs me to do," she said. At that time, everybody had the same mood and was similarly sincere.

Making contributions to the motherland is a real pleasure

In December 1981, Hu got injured in an accident while on duty, and severe burns covered 37 percent of her body. Yet at that time, she was a backbone teacher at the School of Chinese Language and Literature in Zhengzhou University. After the resumption of the college entrance examination, the students were hungry for knowledge. Hu said that that would be a golden period for her career.

But during the golden period, Hu had to spend her time in the hospital and at home and had to stay in bed for three years. Despite many surgeries, she was crippled. For a time at least, even standing up again for a while was a wild wish, never mind walking. The university was very concerned about her, giving her full pay, putting her on a long leave and shouldering her nursing expenses. However, Hu was unwilling to take these. She kept on asking herself: What else can I do? How am I going to spend the rest of my life? At that time, she gained inspiration from a piece of news: In the Ranking of the Enrollment Rate of Worldwide Colleges, China Ranked Second to Last.

"The burns have crippled my body, but not my brain. The burns are on my body, but not on my face," said Hu with a smile. She said that Heaven was a fair judge and took good care of her. It brought her opportunities as well as disasters. Although she was disabled, she could still be involved in education. Were it not for the burns, she would not have started her business. When she started tutorial classes for people to take self-learning examinations for accessing higher education, higher education happened to be in the prime of its development. Despite her crippled body, Hu succeeded in establishing Huanghe Science and Technology College, the first private institution of higher learning which provided higher education in China, and a crucial component of China's private education.

During the conversation, Hu made a passing remark about the hardships involved in starting her business as well as the achievements of Huanghe Science and Technology College. According to Hu, the college is now firmly on the scientific and standards development track. Now as the President of the Supervisory Board of Chinese Association for Non-government Education, the major task on Hu's mind is to propel the development of China's non-government education. Hu summarized herself like this, "Only when an individual's ideal is combined with the country's needs can the individual's value be realized to the utmost extent. Only when we can make some contributions to the country and its people can we feel it is a real pleasure to live our life."

Translated by LOTO