Editor's note:
Every Chinese who lives hard is the most beautiful struggler.
It is precisely because of the hundreds of millions of strugglers that China is today.
Ten years, pay tribute to every one of you who have struggled.
Let us work hard together for the new era, and never slack in the future.
[Explanation] On August 19, as usual, 59-year-old Liu Guizhen got up early, and after checking the growth of the pine saplings in the village, she carried the medicine kit and came to help the villagers get needles.
From rural doctor, substitute teacher to party branch secretary and village committee director, Liu Guizhen has persisted in the deep mountains for 44 years.
Duanjiawan Village, located in a valley in Dai County, Xinzhou City, Shanxi Province, has been short of medical care and medicine for many years. The villagers have not received timely treatment for illness, and the phenomenon of falling into poverty due to illness and returning to poverty due to illness has occurred from time to time.
In 1977, the village recommended Liu Guizhen, who graduated from high school, to study medicine.
In 1978, 15-year-old Liu Guizhen officially became a village doctor.
[Concurrent] Liu Guizhen, Secretary of the Party Branch of Duanjiawan Village and Director of the Village Committee
I have not taken money from my patients for 40 years.
It is more difficult for the elderly. They take out the money from their bags for the medicine they have used.
Take out a few dollars in change from the left floor to the right floor, and I won't be able to ask for their money.
[Explanation] Over the years, most of Liu Guizhen's salary has been used to see doctors for the villagers, and she can only rely on her husband to make money to support the family.
The family also understands Liu Guizhen's persistence.
[Concurrent] Liu Guizhen's daughter Yang Junyu
My mother also often told me that I must do something practical for the residents (villagers), and when I saw poor people and wanted to help them, I would do my best to help them.
[Explanation] Duanjiawan Village is poor and backward, and teachers in the city are unwilling to come to teach.
In 1988, Liu Guizhen became a substitute teacher in the village again.
Except for the English class, Liu Guizhen taught the rest by herself.
She taught students during the day and treated villagers at night. It was not until 2017, when the village primary school was merged into the township central school, that she bid farewell to the podium.
[Concurrent] Liu Guizhen, Secretary of the Party Branch of Duanjiawan Village and Director of the Village Committee
At that time, there were 15 students, and the village said that you should teach them, but I didn’t want to teach them. If you didn’t teach, the school would disappear, and many of the children might become illiterate. In the end, I could only agree to substitute.
A total of 30 years of teaching.
[Explanation] "Look up at the mountains and look down at the rocks." The former Duanjiawan Village was a poor village with harsh natural conditions, no resources and no industry. The villagers could only grow corn and millet, and their lives were relatively difficult.
In 1996, Liu Guizhen was unanimously elected as the secretary of the village party branch, and began to serve as the director of the village committee in 2003.
Under the leadership of Liu Guizhen, the seedling area of the whole village has rapidly grown to more than 80 mu, and the average income per mu is about 70,000 yuan, and the highest can reach more than 100,000 yuan.
At the same time, she actively explored channels to increase income, and led the villagers to plant Chinese herbal medicines such as skullcap and Bupleurum, which increased the village's annual income by more than 400,000 yuan.
[Concurrent] Liu Guizhen, Secretary of the Party Branch of Duanjiawan Village and Director of the Village Committee
In the past 40 years, I have many opportunities to go out, but I can't go, because the villagers need me, so I can only stay.
Since I have promised others, I must do well and do it to the end.
[Explanation] At the end of 2017, Duanjiawan was completely lifted out of poverty.
In 2018, Liu Guizhen took the lead in establishing the "Dai County Liu Guizhen Planting Seedstock Cooperative", which not only promoted the development of the seedling industry in Duanjiawan, but also promoted the development of the seedling industry in neighboring villages.
The honest villagers are Liu Guizhen's biggest concern.
Sometimes when she is too busy to eat, the villagers will bring her meals. The villagers help each other and have a harmonious relationship.
[Concurrent] Liu Guizhen, Secretary of the Party Branch of Duanjiawan Village and Director of the Village Committee
I don't seem to have gained anything financially, but mentally I feel fulfilled because people need me now.
I always feel that when people are alive, you can solve problems for others with your dedication, which is the happier thing in life.
So as long as there are people in the village, I will not leave.
Reporter Wang Huilin reports from Xinzhou, Shanxi
Editor in charge: [Ji Xiang]