By reporter Qiu Zhao
In He Ping's dormitory, there is a sunflower poster. "Sunflowers face the sun; I feel warmth when I look at them and like them very much. I like their eternal brilliance towards the sun, be it sunrise or blazing sun. I like to smile while facing the sun, no matter how many difficulties and hardships there are in life. I hope that I am a sunflower, forever facing the sunshine, hope, and the upward direction of youth..."
During her spare time from classes, He Ping tutored five students and worked part-time cleaning the campus and trimming the lawn.
"Taking care of my family, I don't feel any bitterness," said He Ping, who rarely cried but was once moved to tears by her mother. "Once, my mother gave me a piece of candy she found that someone else had already unwrapped. I couldn't help crying."
He Ping said, "I don't have beautiful clothes or tasty snacks. I can't go to amusement parks during summer vacation or play with firecrackers during winter break. Moreover, my parents are not physically or intellectually healthy. But, I have their deepest love, and I have the simplest yet warmest happiness."
In 2009, He Ping was admitted to the Chinese as a Foreign Language major at Hunan University of Science and Technology. After starting university, what worried He Ping most was her younger brother, who is 12 years younger than her, living in Anji countryside. Her brother, He Jun, was 8 years old, weighing only 15 kilograms due to malnutrition, looking like a 5-year-old child. Last year, He Ping made an important decision - to bring her brother to university with her. "Every day, I let my brother drink milk and balance his diet between meat and vegetables." Kind-hearted teachers pooled money to buy milk for her, which He Ping didn't drink herself, leaving it all for her brother. In the cafeteria, He Ping ate two steamed buns or one serving of vegetables with rice, but always ordered something delicious for her brother.
"University student with 8-year-old brother"
"Started doing all housework at age 10"
"This child truly understands responsibility," Neighbor Aunt Yang told reporters that at the age of 10, He Ping took on all household chores: sweeping the floor with a broom taller than herself and carrying large buckets of water to wash the whole family's clothes. She didn't cry even when cutting her hand while chopping vegetables or when hot oil splashed onto her face causing a large blister. From preschool, He Ping began working with her aunt at a nearby firecracker factory threading fuses and "making cakes" (a step in handmade fireworks). When other children were still whining for pocket money, He Ping told herself: "I am different from them. I need to earn money for tuition!"
Working 7 part-time jobs, "Sunflower Girl" brings her brother to university
She is a college student, taking up to seven part-time jobs in a week; she is the "pillar" of a family, taking care of her bedridden father and mother suffering from intermittent mental illness; she is the "father-sister" of her 8-year-old brother, bringing him, who suffers from congenital heart disease, to university with her. She has a cheerful and optimistic disposition with a sunny smile. She is the "Sunflower Girl" He Ping.
Unafraid of the hardships and trials of life