Desire, dedication

After Yuan graduated from university, he was offered a job at a magazine in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, but he rejected it as he was determined to become a teacher.

He said he had wanted to be a teacher since high school. He remembers that when he was in high school all the teachers told the students to study hard, and he had to become an "exam machine" to get high grades in the gaokao, the national college entrance exam.

However, he wanted to become a different kind of educator and make his classroom fun and informative.

So, he decided that he did not want to be a full-time teacher as he thought that not having contracts with the schools would give him more freedom to try a new teaching style.

He also wanted to become a volunteer teacher in the rural areas where there was a lack of tutors. As a result, he traveled to two rural schools in Sichuan and Guizhou provinces, but both declined his offer, saying they had no shortage of teachers.

Then, he came across a news story about Tan Dingcai, a disabled teacher in Enshi. Tan had been a teacher at a learning center in Jiangjiawan since 1983. The center had 18 first and second grade students, and although he was paralyzed from the waist down after a fall in 2005, Tan continued to work as he was the only teacher at the place.

Yuan thought that the school might need a volunteer teacher, so he traveled more than 1,000 kilometers to Jiangjiawan. Tan initially had doubts about Yuan and tried to persuade him to return to Nanjing and find a full-time job, but when he saw how determined the young man was, he relented and helped him clean up a dormitory room, marking the start of a new chapter in Yuan's life.

However, Yuan quickly discovered that being a volunteer teacher was not easy. "At the beginning, I had to go to different schools and plead with school administrators for classes to teach," he recalled. "I had to be thick-skinned, as many declined my offer."

As a volunteer teacher, Yuan does not receive a monthly salary, though he does get free accommodations and meals. Some schools have offered him allowances, but often he receives no money for his efforts.

Teaching also turned out to be much harder than he had thought as most of the students were "left-behind children", whose parents had moved to cities to find work.

"They were very shy and some were also very naughty. I thought I needed to play with them, so they would open up to me," Yuan said.

He made his classes unusual and interesting. For example, when teaching a poem about a swordsman, he brought a plastic sword to class and urged the students to give fencing performances while reciting the poem. The whole class then decided which student was the best swordsman.

He also teaches the students to write poems and lets them decide which is the best. He then writes the ode on the blackboard to praise the winning student.

In addition to teaching academic subjects, Yuan focuses on the all-around development of his students. He teaches them how to climb trees and swim, and organizes the school's soccer teams.

Yuan's unique teaching methods have gradually become popular in the county, even leading other schools to invite him to give lectures, for which he is paid. He has also won many teaching awards, which usually come with prize money.

Local education authorities have offered to make him a regular full-time teacher several times, promising a higher income and social insurance, but he has always declined the offers.

"I have food to eat, a place to live and something to do. I'm satisfied enough," he said. "It is worthwhile as I am doing something I like."

Not having much money did not affect him in terms of finding a girlfriend, Yuan said, adding that his girlfriend is very supportive of him continuing his teaching career.