Some children as young as four years old also go to school in the snow with their older sisters every day, and teachers stagger up the snowy mountain to visit students' homes several kilometers away. In Xinglong Town's Shanmu Village of Fengjie County, there is a snowy path through the wild boar forest that children traverse daily, taking six or seven hours round trip. During the Spring Festival, CCTV continuously reported on this school route, giving it high attention. How far is this road? How much snow and ice covers it? When will it be shortened? How do the children walk this road to school? Starting from the day before yesterday, Chongqing Evening News reporters delved into the scene for an on-site interview.
Chongqing Evening News reporter Tang Hanfeng, Tian Xiao, Wu Juan, Qian Bo photographic report; Chongqing Evening News graphic design by Guo Juan.
The Snow-Covered School Route:
Boots leave deep footprints in the snow.
"You've come at the right time. We conduct home visits to some students' houses every winter and summer break. Let's walk the same path they take to and from school," said Su Dequan, head of Shanmu Village Elementary School, delightedly inviting Vice Principal Lü Wanbin of Jingzhu Central Elementary School along for a home visit.
At 10 a.m., large snowflakes were falling from the sky, blanketing the mountains in white. Under the guidance of the two teachers, the Chongqing Evening News team set off, heading for Wujiazhai where eight families lived and eight children attended Shanmu Village Elementary School.
The initial stretch of the path wasn't too steep, about one meter wide, which was relatively spacious for a mountain trail. The ground was covered with a few centimeters of snow, leaving deep footprints with each step and making a squelching sound.
Despite wearing newly purchased long rain boots, Chongqing Evening News reporters still felt the bone-chilling cold on their feet. After walking in the snow for half an hour, their feet began to warm up, and they no longer felt the cold.
A Wild Boar Had Just Passed
Around 11 a.m., the group passed through a place called Gandong Cave. Teacher Su said they had completed half the journey to Wujiazhai. However, the path suddenly disappeared. "Climb over this hill, and we'll be there soon!" Teacher Su said casually, but when Chongqing Evening News reporters looked up, all they saw was an unscalable mountain ridge with no visible path.
Due to heavy snowfall, although there was a path, it was completely invisible. They could only discern it by the sparsity of plants on the ground. In the dense forest, the two teachers trampled through thick layers of snow to create a narrow trail wide enough for one person.
"Watch out, there are wild boars!" Teacher Su shouted, pointing to several three-toed footprints in the snow. "These prints are very clear, the wild boar has just passed." Teacher Su said, "Wild boars are also afraid of people. If we talk loudly, it will run away!"
Shouting is the most convenient communication tool in the mountains.
After climbing for half an hour through the snow without seeing a single household, they finally reached the top of the mountain and passed through a bamboo grove. At this point, even Teacher Su got lost.
"Huang Xiuping... Huang Xiuping..." Teachers Su and Lü started shouting into the snowy foggy mountains. Teacher Su said, "Shouting is the most convenient communication tool in the mountains. One shout can be heard within a radius of a mile or two."
As they walked and shouted, after more than ten minutes, they heard a response from the students on the other side. "That's right, we should go this way," Teacher Su happily said.
"Are we there yet?" asked the Chongqing Evening News reporter. "Not yet, the reply came from the opposite mountain. We need to climb down and then back up again."
Going downhill was much harder than going uphill. Beneath the snow was slippery mud. The two teachers often had to crouch down, using their hands to steady themselves on rocks or tree branches sticking out of the snow, sliding down step by step, covering themselves in snow and mud.
At 12:20 p.m., after more than two hours of arduous trekking, the Chongqing Evening News team finally arrived at Wujiazhai where student Huang Xiuping lived. The two teachers gathered the children living nearby, surrounding them around the fire stove in Huang's house. They chatted with the parents while checking the children's homework completion status.
This was not the farthest place from the school. Teacher Su said that Shuangniu Village was even farther, requiring another one or two hours of walking.
Though the school route was long and fraught with hardship, the children in the mountains understood that this road led to knowledge and was the only way for them, who came from impoverished backgrounds, to leave the mountains. Therefore, regardless of the difficulties, they would try every means to overcome them.
Older Children Lead the Way
"Eight students live in Wujiazhai, and they all go to school together," said Teacher Su. Due to the long distance and various dangers on the way, children in the mountains usually go to and from school with older ones leading the younger ones. This was the case for the eight children from Wujiazhai, approximately 10 kilometers of mountain roads from the school.
Every day, the oldest child, Huang Xiuping, wakes up at 5 a.m. to wash and comb her hair, sometimes helping her mother cook breakfast. Breakfast ends around 6 a.m. "We generally start at this time," Huang Xiuping said, bringing her younger sister Huang Guiying to the front of the house and shouting out the names of the other classmates, "Let's hurry up and go to school."
When Wild Boars Come, We Sing to Scare Them Away
"We have encountered wild boars many times on our way to school," said sixth-grader Huang Xiuping, "But we are not afraid. Singing loudly can scare them away."
Huang Xiuping said that there were the most wild boars in July-August and November. During these times, she would lead her classmates in singing songs on the way to school, "Singing makes us fearless and scares the wild boars away."
"The best footwear for walking in the snow isn't fancy shoes, but plastic boots," said Teacher Su. In winter with accumulated snow, the children wore plastic boots to school, which were waterproof and non-slippery on snowy ground. However, plastic boots weren't warm, and once they got wet with snow water, their feet would freeze immediately, "The children's feet are frostbitten, and they have to soak them in hot water when they return home, otherwise, they will turn purple," said student parent Li Chunlan.
Hungry on the Road, Eat Ice Needles and Wild Berries
Walking about six hours a day to and from school, the children found their own pleasures in the icy weather. "In winter, we don't need to bring water. When we're thirsty, we can eat 'ice needles' directly," said 10-year-old Lei Yan. The icicles hanging from trees are called "ice needles," which she pops into her mouth, "like eating popsicles."
In the mountains, there also grows a unique red wild berry found in high-altitude areas, which the children call "mugua seeds." "They taste like hawthorns and serve as our snacks on the way to school," said Huang Xiuping. Now that the school provides free lunches, the children no longer get hungry on their way to and from school, but during the long journey, they can pick some mugua seeds to pass the time when bored.
Each teacher keeps multiple sets of old clothes ready for students to change into.
"Our teachers here have all walked this path themselves and deeply understand the hardships the children face in going to school. Everyone is trying to help them," said Su Dequan. In winter, to prevent the children from getting up too early, the school pushed back the start time from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., allowing them not to rush too much on the mountain paths.
On rainy or snowy days, many children fall on the mountain roads and end up covered in mud. "If their whole body gets wet, how can they attend class? We need to prepare clothes for them to change into," Su Dequan told Chongqing Evening News. At Shanmu Primary School, each teacher keeps multiple sets of old student clothes ready for immediate use.
The newly built kitchen allows children to enjoy a warm, free lunch.
Shanmu Primary School is a village school under the jurisdiction of Jingzhu Central Primary School, but its campus looks better than many central schools. Three newly renovated buildings surround the concrete playground, forming a courtyard, with all kinds of functional classrooms fully equipped.
Vice Principal Lü Wanbin of Jingzhu Central Primary School said that this was thanks to the new rural construction underway in Shanmu Village. Last year, the government invested over 170,000 yuan to renovate the school building and nearly 480,000 yuan to build a kindergarten according to the standards of a third-level kindergarten.
Next to the kindergarten, Chongqing Evening News reporters saw a newly built kitchen fully equipped with cooking utensils. "For the children, this is the most useful because they can enjoy a warm, free lunch every noon," said Lü Wanbin. In the past, primary school children never had lunch and went to school with empty stomachs, then walked for hours to return home for meals.
Four sets of teacher dormitories have been converted to solve the boarding issue for 48 children.
"There are ten rooms in the teacher dormitory building, and we have decided to convert the four rooms on the left into student dormitories," said Teacher Su while guiding Chongqing Evening News reporters to see. "Each room has two rooms, and each room can accommodate three bunk beds, allowing at least six students to stay. With this arrangement, by converting four rooms, we can solve the boarding problem for 48 children. We did a survey, and 42 students live far from home. As long as their parents agree, they can all stay at school," said Teacher Su. Currently, the bedding has been prepared, and starting next semester, children who live far away won't have to cross mountains to attend school anymore.
CCTV Special Program "School Buses Heading Towards Spring"
Three Broadcasts About the School Route
During this year's Spring Festival, CCTV News Channel launched a special program "School Buses Heading Towards Spring," continuously reporting on the school route of Shanmu Village Primary School in Fengjie County, causing a strong reaction from all sectors of society.
January 20: CCTV News Channel's "Morning News" was the first to report on the school route of Shanmu Village Primary School's children. CCTV reporters visited student Huang Xiuping's home, recording the journey to school for the two sisters. In the footage, children cry as they wake up at 5 a.m., walking through dark mountain paths. To scare away wild boars, parents set off firecrackers while walking, and children hold hands, sing, and shout to scare away wild boars.
January 21: CCTV News Channel's "Hourly News" continued to broadcast the school route of Shanmu Village Primary School's children. CCTV reporters conducted a survey showing that students spending over two hours walking home accounted for one-third of the total number of students.
January 24: CCTV News Channel again broadcasted the reporter's journey following the children as they returned home after school. The children started their journey home at 3:10 p.m., with the mountain entirely covered in snow and slippery roads. It took the children over three hours, arriving home at 6:30 p.m. The lens captured Xiuping's frostbitten hands and tears of gratitude for her parents. Xiuping said to the camera, "Although going to and from school is very hard, I will definitely study well."
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