In May 1993, at the age of 54, I became the principal of Xi'an No.1 Middle School. At that time, before retiring, I met Mr. Shi Ruisheng, the former chairman, through the introduction of Director Xu Jianguo of the Municipal Education Commission. From then on, Mr. Shi Ruisheng and I embarked on the path of founding Bodi School. There are too many stories in my memory, I don't know where to start. Just select a few impressive items to share with everyone here.
1、 The Story of Establishing a School
On June 20, 1993, the press conference for the establishment of Xi'an Bodi Primary School was held in the conference room of Xi'an No.1 Middle School. Cui Lintao, then Mayor of Xi'an, Fu Jide, Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee, and leaders of the Provincial People's Congress, Provincial Political Consultative Conference, and Municipal Education Bureau all attended the meeting and gave important speeches. The government has provided great support for such a new affairs.
At that time, the school was located in Taipingyu, Huxian County, and the former site of 210 sub schools was rented. 210 schools have been relocated to Xi'an Electronic City for many years, and the old school buildings left in the mountains are dilapidated, with garbage piled up, maggots scattered all over the ground, and flies flying... The old chairman, Shi Ruisheng, who is not afraid of difficulties and comes from a military background, first led a team of people to renovate the school buildings, repair doors and windows, clean up accumulated garbage over the years, paint all the walls, and build some necessary facilities... Although the old chairman was over sixty years old at the time, he looked very young and red faced He has a loud voice, a cheerful and kind personality, and full of enthusiasm. He is not afraid of difficulties and leads the workers day and night to carry out school building renovation work. Ms. Shi Xirong was also involved in the renovation of the school building. When I first met Principal Shi, her pants rolled over her knees and her waist was covered with keys, like a "big warehouse keeper". Her face was soaked in sweat with her honest, hardworking, and persistent nature. While renovating the school buildings in the mountains, the newly appointed primary school principal and I borrowed the classrooms of City No.1 Middle School to recruit teachers. The old chairman's home also became the admissions office, and his wife, Old Wang, was also answering the admissions phone at home.
Although everyone is fully committed to preparing for the start of the school year, the remote and under construction school buildings leave little hope for parents who come to visit, and few sign up to pay. The campus located far away from Xi'an and in the Taiping Valley, as well as the emerging affairs of private schools, have also made teachers feel intimidated, and there are not many people who have made up their minds to teach. Seeing this situation, the first primary school principal who had just been on duty for less than two months wavered, retreated, and resigned. It has been less than a month since I left school, and there was no principal at the critical moment. I had to ask my good friend Ms. Zhu Dehong to come out and help (she had just retired from the second line of the Education Department's vocational reform office at that time). Principal Zhu is an experienced and capable principal. In late August, we recruited students and planned classrooms and departments together. With everyone's efforts, the number of students who registered gradually increased, and the school's appearance was transformed into a new one. The preparations for the start of the school year were well prepared.
On September 2, 1993, the first opening ceremony of Bodi Primary School in Xi'an was held. Due to a lack of manpower, I sent Zhao Zhengmin, the director of moral education at the No.1 Middle School in the city, to preside over the opening ceremony. In the sound of the national anthem, the first private primary school in Xi'an opened smoothly, and the first batch of 218 students from Bodi sat in the bright classroom to start learning.
Due to the remote location of the school, it adopts a boarding system, where teachers and students eat and live together, and return home once every two weeks. This was really a new thing at the time. A group of energetic, innocent and lovely children, a team of energetic and passionate teachers, bring unprecedented vitality to the peaceful mountains; Laughter, singing, and reading echoed in the valley; Parents drove their high-end cars one by one into the beautiful Taiping Valley; The local villagers have applied for Bodi logistics positions and have new job opportunities.
However, the early stages of school establishment were full of challenges. Principal Zhu, due to difficulties at home and other reasons, proposed to the old chairman that he could only complete the first semester before leaving his post. The school is about to lose its principal, causing instability among teachers and students. The old chairman sent someone to make me go to Principal Zhu's house overnight and advised her to persist for another semester, but it was unsuccessful. At this point, I decided to simply become the principal of Bodi Elementary School myself.
The second semester of Bodi Elementary School has begun. I work at City No.1 Middle School from 7am to 6pm during the day, and after 6pm, I take the bus to Bodi Elementary School to work. It takes an hour by car to travel from Xi'an to Taipingyu. I usually finish my work at Bodi in the middle of the night, and the next morning at around 5 o'clock, I get on the bus and rush to work at No.1 Middle School. In this way, I persisted for more than a semester, and Bodi passed the first year of school safely and smoothly. The trust of the old chairman, the help of the teachers, and the support of my parents gave me endless motivation. I don't feel tired, I feel happy and happy every day. In July 1994, I decided to retire early from the position of principal at Xi'an No.1 Middle School, marking a new milestone in my life. This has been done for a full twenty years until today.
2、 Eternal Memory: 1998
1998 was an extraordinary year in the history of Bodi. I have memorized many wonderful stories and touching deeds this year. The story begins in 1994:
In May 1994, the old chairman and I began planning to establish Bodi Middle School. Through my previous work experience, I have led my teachers to set up enrollment points on many key high school campuses. Many sister schools, including Xi'an No.1 Middle School, Xi'an Middle School, and Xi'an No.30 Middle School, have been fully supportive of our school's enrollment. At the same time, a group of outstanding retired teachers from key high schools joined the Bodi team, and Bodi High School quickly started in 1994. By 1997, the number of students in Bodhi primary and secondary schools had exceeded 1500. Although Taipingyu in Huxian County has beautiful mountains and rivers, there are not enough school buildings and activity venues to meet the needs of students. In addition, I worry about unsafe factors such as landslides and falling rocks at the foot of the mountain every day. After some planning, everyone resolutely decided to move out of the valley and rebuild the school.
In 1997, I, along with the former chairman, Vice President Shi Xirong, and Vice President Liu Gongcheng, began selecting school sites. We first took a liking to the current addresses outside the entrance of Taipingyu Mountain, such as high mountains and flowing water, Shanshui Caotang, and so on. But everyone felt that these places were still far from the city, so in April 1997, they chose 200 acres of land opposite the diving tower at Xiwan Road intersection (now the address of the High tech Management Committee). Shortly after the school paid millions of fees to farmers and surrounded the school wall to lay the foundation, the national land policy suddenly tightened, and we were forced to leave and relocate.
After a series of twists and turns, the site was finally coordinated by the government of Yanta District to build a school in Yuhua Village. In January 1998, the grand construction project of the school began. From the start of construction in January to the start of school on September 1st, within just nine months, the school completed the teaching building (7000 square meters), the comprehensive library building (8000 square meters), four student apartments, teacher apartments, teacher-student restaurants, a standard indoor swimming pool, a standard playground with a 400 meter runway, boiler rooms, water, electricity, heating and other supporting facilities, greening and road construction. Each project has its own construction team, working day and night, covering 225 acres. At that time, the largest campus in the northwest region appeared in the ancient city of Xi'an. Recalling the establishment of the school in 1998, I feel that there are endless stories to tell. Choose three of them to tell.
（1） Green campuses are hard won
The school is located in Yuhua Village. Initially, the planned campus area was over 100 acres. Later, Professor Liu suggested that for boarding schools, it is best to provide larger activity spaces for teachers and students. So, the school finally enclosed a 225 acre campus. Although the area is large, this piece of land is a sandy piece of land where local villagers have been digging for sand. On average, the 225 acre land is about 1 meter lower than Yudou Road Street, and it tends to accumulate water during the rainy season. However, there is no municipal drainage system in the Yuhua area. Meanwhile, in the middle of the campus, there is a sand pit that is four or five floors deep, located in the current central garden of the school. The school has decided to level the sand pit, transform it into a garden, and raise the entire campus by 1 meter, so that the height of the campus is consistent with the street outside the school. This is a big project, and the only amount of earthwork required is astronomical mathematics. In 1998, coinciding with the development of the High tech Zone, many of the soil excavated from construction sites was transported to the campus. During the nine month construction period, the filling work was ongoing and was not completed until the end of August.
Ten years of trees and a hundred years of people, Bodi's 20 years of development have witnessed this truth. In 1998, there were no green plants on the new campus. Each teacher and student donated 10 yuan to purchase small saplings, and the parents and teachers started planting trees together. Through the careful cultivation and maintenance of generations of Bodi people, we have today's lush trees and the fragrance of birds and flowers. I hope everyone will always remember the old chairman who made contributions to this beautiful campus; Never forget Mr. Liu Gongcheng, Vice President in charge of logistics, and Mr. Sun Xingtian, Director of General Affairs, who worked until the last moment of their lives.
（2） A bustling big move
After the birth of the new campus, it is necessary to move the living facilities such as beds and stoves, tables, chairs, benches, experimental equipment, office furniture, teaching equipment, and books that are used by more than 1500 people from the mountains into the new campus. The transportation pressure is enormous. At this time, Principal Zhao Lichun and I mobilized our parents to borrow cars from the school. In one night, we mobilized our parents to borrow over 300 large trucks for free use by the school. In fact, although most parents are company owners, most companies do not have large trucks, so parents rent their own cars. Some cars are transferred from southern Shaanxi, northern Shaanxi, Weinan and other places, and some parents even send drivers and some personnel to participate in the transportation. The scene of moving still lingers in the minds of all the teachers who have participated in the big move to this day: in August, Xi'an was close to 40 degrees Celsius, and everyone was not afraid of the sun and rain. Teachers, staff, cafeteria masters, doctors, directors, and principals all became porters. Principal Chang Tieyan of the middle school was over 60 years old at the time, but like a young man, he pulled a cart and ran very fast; Director Zhao Xinjing, who was weak, wore a white towel around his neck and didn't care to wipe his sweat, leading everyone to unload teaching equipment; The pouring rain in summer soaked the clothes of the teachers, but they still insisted on loading and unloading without taking shelter. The teaching and living facilities for more than 1500 people were relocated in just half a month. During this process, no one complained, no one received overtime pay, and no one even had a decent meal. Whenever I recall this journey, I feel an uncontrollable excitement and countless words of gratitude in my heart
At the same time as the major relocation, the enrollment work needs to continue as usual. Without an office space, I led the teachers to a meeting in the newly built security gate, where the roar of construction machinery echoed and everyone was sweating profusely during a work meeting. At that time, Professor Liu consciously called for someone to take photos and record the bustling history of the school's establishment.
（3） Raising funds to overcome economic difficulties
On September 1, 1998, the teachers and students moved into the new campus with great joy, but who knew that at this time, the board of directors not only spent more than 30 million yuan of investment they had raised, but also used up all the tuition, accommodation, and food expenses of over 1500 students for the new semester to build the school. In the new semester, there is no salary for teachers, no food for students, and all office expenses have been spent. When the school started on September 1st, there were less than 10000 yuan left in the school account. The old chairman and I are worried, and everyone is anxious. What should we do? At this point, I boldly suggested that I could only borrow from parents who supported and trusted me. On one hand, Principal Zhao Lichun and I mobilized students to pay the next semester's fees in advance, and on the other hand, we borrowed money from parents who support the school. The good service and excellent teaching quality of the school have gathered strength, gained the trust of parents, and raised over 3 million yuan in less than a week, solving the urgent needs of the school. There was once a parent who lent hundreds of thousands of yuan to the school at once, and regretted it only one night. The next morning, they came to me and said it was urgent. I understood very well and immediately refunded the money. Trust is mutual, and after a week, the parent voluntarily lent the money to the school.
3、 A few unforgettable nights
When the school was founded in 1998, it was used two days a day. During the day, the old chairman and Professor Liu organized infrastructure projects in Xi'an, while President Shi and I were responsible for handling infrastructure, planning, and other procedures, as well as campus design. In the evening, we will return to the school on the mountain to inspect the work for the day and arrange for the next day's work. On a night in January 1998, heavy snow blocked the mountain road. Professor Liu and I were stuck at the Taipingyu Pass in a Santana car driven by Principal Shi. The heavy snowfall had been falling for a whole day, and the car was slipping and unable to move forward. At this point, Professor Liu and I had to get off the car and push it. For two nearly 60 year old people who have been working hard all day, not only did they not feel tired, but they shouted loudly and called for encouragement. It only took 5 minutes for the car to run normally on the mountain road, but we pushed for over an hour and it was already over 1 o'clock in the middle of the night when we arrived at the dormitory.
Another unforgettable night was when the 2005 college entrance examination scores were announced. That night, I was organizing the Academic Affairs Office to check the scores of the college entrance examination, which was close to ten o'clock in the evening. My office phone rang, it was from Huashang Daily reporter Tuo Feng. He said that this year's top scorer in science was heard to be in Yanta District, and asked if he was in Bodi? I said I don't know, but Feng Yuning from our school has a high estimate and applied to Tsinghua University. In fact, at this point, the reporter has received preliminary information that the top scorer is Feng Yuning, just to confirm again. A few more minutes later, we found out Feng Yuning's score, with a total score of 729 points, including a perfect score of 150 in mathematics, 141 in Chinese, 141 in foreign languages, and 297 in science and engineering. At this moment, the phone rang again, and journalist Tuofeng, who had been following Bodi's development, excitedly told me that Feng Yuning had won the top prize in science. Half an hour later, multiple media outlets rushed into the school in the rain. The campus was boiling, and the principal, director, teachers, and classmates congratulated Feng Yuning. The high school seniors generally performed well in the exam, and another student, Chen Xu, scored 707 points... "Making the outstanding even better and the ordinary even more extraordinary" was achieved through the joint efforts of teachers and students. Feng Yuning and Chen Xu only scored around 530 points in the middle school entrance examination that year, which did not meet the admission score line for provincial and municipal key high schools. However, after graduating from Bodi High School, they were admitted to Tsinghua University and Peking University with excellent grades, achieving their dreams. This was very difficult. For the past twenty years, renowned universities at home and abroad, such as Tsinghua University, Peking University, Zhejiang University, Renmin University of China, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Fudan University, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, University of Science and Technology of China, Stanford University, and Columbia University in the United States, have all taken the footsteps of Bodhi students.
Bodi has gone through an extraordinary journey of wind and rain for twenty years, eliminating countless distractions, creating many impossible things, and achieving certain results. Many wonderful stories have forever remained in the hearts of Bodi people. The story of Bodi is jointly written by everyone. We would like to express our highest respect and heartfelt gratitude to the leaders, colleagues in the education industry, teachers, alumni, parents, and classmates who have supported Bodi's education!
My Road to Education Reform and Opening up
I am an educator with nearly 60 years of experience in education and teaching; I am also a high school physics teacher, teaching high school physics for 30 years; I also worked as a class teacher in the practice of education and teaching for 20 years; I am also a manager of education and teaching, serving as a high school principal for 40 years; I am also a practitioner and reformer of educational philosophy. My luckiest thing is that I have never left the education industry since graduating from Northeast Normal University. Not only have I achieved my educational ideals, but I have also witnessed China's educational transformation and development. After retiring from the position of principal at Xi'an No.1 Middle School, I founded Bodi School with retired cadre Shi Ruisheng. Over the past 30 years, we have provided countless students to society. Today, they work in various industries of our country, achieving remarkable results and contributing their efforts to social construction. This is where I am most gratified and proud. On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Bodi School, looking back on the 30-year journey of Bodi School, I am filled with emotions. It was a period full of struggle and growth, as well as a journey containing dreams and hope. In the past 30 years, we have achieved remarkable results. However, today I will only recall a few interesting things about Bodi School's international exchanges to commemorate the great reform and opening up, as well as the revival of education, Also as a commemoration of my educational career.
Since the reform and opening up in 1978, Chinese society has undergone earth shaking changes. The reform and opening up not only brought economic prosperity but also national rejuvenation. It also provides more opportunities and challenges for education, and brings broader space for the development of education. Education needs to go global to meet the needs and challenges of the globalization era. In the early 1990s, the governments and civilians of China and Japan put aside their historical burdens, opened their doors, and strengthened exchanges. As the ancient capital of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, Xi'an has become a bridge for Sino Japanese exchanges, among which educational exchange has become an important aspect of cultural exchange between China and Japan, and is highly valued by the governments of both countries. In 1992, I was the principal of Xi'an No.1 Middle School. At the invitation of Nishida Yamato School in Nara, Japan, I had the privilege of visiting Japan for the first time abroad. The five-day itinerary is arranged very tightly, almost in minutes and seconds. I almost completed the five-day journey by jogging along the way. I am deeply moved by the fast pace and strong sense of time in Japan. This nationally renowned private high school in Japan has left a deep impression on me. The beautiful school uniform and polite behavior are unforgettable. The campus environment is clean and tidy, and even entering the teaching building requires taking off shoes to enter the classroom. The advanced multimedia teaching system was my first experience, which vaguely showed me the future of China's educational technology reform. Wherever you go in Japan, it is clean and tidy, orderly and civilized, with meticulous management. Office workers come and go in a hurry, with a fast pace. People don't have the habit of taking naps, and their efficiency is very high. I visited Japanese instant noodle processing plants and Sony Corporation, and also took the Japanese Shinkansen, which opened my eyes. At that time, I silently made up my mind that if given the opportunity, we would definitely let our students and teachers go abroad and see the outside world. I want to make teachers and students believe that China's future will not be bad.
In 1993, I was still serving as the principal of No.1 Middle School. With the support of the city's education leaders, Bodi Elementary School was co founded with retired cadre Mr. Shi Ruisheng. After retiring in 1994, we founded Bodi Middle School again. At that time, private education was still a new phenomenon, and the Party and government called for the use of private education to make up for the lack of educational strength in our country. But what to do with private education is still in the exploratory stage nationwide. In that era, not only was the private education sector confused, but various industries were in a bottleneck period of development after achieving certain results in reform and opening up. In order to learn from the mature experience of the West and integrate into the world, various industries, encouraged by the country, have come to the West to investigate, learn from experience, and introduce technology and funds.
Under the influence of this culture of learning from the world, educational research is also flourishing.
One day in March 1995, a leader of the Shaanxi Provincial Science and Technology Commission called me and told me that there was a summer camp project for primary and secondary school students in the United States, which was invited by the Boy Scouts of the United States. After hearing this news, I was very excited. Although I didn't know how complicated the future would be, I felt it was an opportunity to see the world, and I immediately agreed to organize students to participate.
Immediately, I held a class teacher meeting and requested that students in each class seek the opinions of their parents and voluntarily register to participate. In less than two days, more than 100 students signed up. People in that era had a high enthusiasm for going abroad, which made me very excited. I started processing the procedures for the children who registered to go abroad. At that time, as private passports had not yet been released, we could only apply for official passports. Applying for a business passport requires approval documents from the Municipal Education Bureau and political review materials from each child's family.
So, I reported the situation of the summer camp project in the United States to Director Li Guangrui of the Municipal Education Bureau. On the one hand, the bureau leaders support this project, and on the other hand, they are very concerned about the safety of students. They immediately reported to the Municipal Foreign Affairs Office. Because of such a large overseas team and being underage children, they have to go to the other side of the ocean, so they are very cautious. The Municipal Foreign Affairs Office immediately reported the situation to the Deputy Mayor in charge of foreign affairs, Chai Weihui. Mayor Chai's attitude is the same as Director Li's, supporting students to go abroad, but also very concerned about their safety. He also talked about some things that happened when he and Director Li led 40 outstanding high school students from Xi'an to visit Nara, such as a student opening the safety door as soon as they boarded the plane; When she arrived at a hotel in Japan, a girl used the hotel's razor to scrape off the eyebrows of one of her eyes; I bumped into an old man while feeding deer in Nara Park. Considering our lack of experience in organizing for the first time, Mayor Chai requested me to reduce the scale and develop detailed safety measures.
After I returned to school, after mobilization, we reduced the scale by half and promised to organize the other half of the students to go to the United States the next year. Afterwards, Mayor Chai listened to our second report and requested that every ten students be equipped with a teacher. He also instructed the leaders of the Municipal Foreign Affairs Office and the Municipal Education Bureau to accompany the delegation to the United States to ensure the safety of the students. The leaders of the Provincial Association for Science and Technology also attach great importance to it. They sent a director to accompany the delegation and arranged for personnel from the provincial television station to report with the delegation. In this way, a 72 person summer camp team consisting of provincial and municipal leaders has finally been formed. The scale, specifications, distance, and duration of this team are unprecedented.
On the night before the students received their passports and visas to the United States and prepared to depart, the Provincial Association for Science and Technology received a message from the Exit and Entry Management Office, stating that in addition to the passport and invitation letter, approval from the International Office of the Provincial Department of Education was also required when leaving the airport. I didn't know about this program before, and it's a weekend night. What should I do? I had to go to Director Wang of the International Cooperation Office overnight with Principal Shi. He warmly and seriously received us and immediately reported the situation to the director in charge. The director and department head were both very open-minded and approved us to go abroad overnight.
Recalling the first time I organized a summer camp in the United States, I had no knowledge of the procedures for going abroad, nor was I aware of the difficulties that visas may encounter, let alone the problems that may arise in the United States. At that time, my thoughts were really too simple. I simply believed in the "Flame Mountain that cannot be crossed", with a beautiful wish that my students could understand the world, broaden their horizons, and not think about any difficulties they might encounter. In order to allow students to see more countries, we chose to transfer to the United States via Osaka, Japan. At the Japanese airport, there was a small incident where 72 teachers and students were unable to clear customs smoothly. The staff communicated with us in Japanese, but we couldn't understand. They tried to communicate with us in English, but our English teachers couldn't understand either. We have been stuck in the lobby for more than ten minutes. At this moment, a high school freshman girl stood up and told our leader that the Japanese side would let us pass through the checkpoint in a team form. She is Liu Yubo, the current chairman of Bodi School. Afterwards, we successfully arrived at a five-star hotel at Osaka Airport in Japan, stayed for a free night, visited Osaka City the next day, and flew to Los Angeles in the evening.
The students were very excited on the plane and felt that JAL's service was warm and thoughtful. There is ample supply of snacks and drinks, and they keep taking photos with the flight attendants. Although it is a ten hour journey from Da Ban to Los Angeles, the students feel that it is very short.
We are participating in a 20 day trip to the United States, and as underage students, we encountered some minor issues during customs clearance. Some students forget to bring their flight tickets; Some leave their passports on the immigration officer's desk; The suitcase was also opened on the transport platform. Fortunately, the teachers are very responsible and attach great importance to the rare visiting tasks. They have taken on the role of serving the students since leaving the country, and everything has been handled calmly without any accidents.
At Disneyland and Hollywood, whether it's roller coasters, space exploration, Little People's World, or experiencing the behind the scenes of movie shooting, earthquake experiences, water parks, space centers, taking helicopters and sea speedboats, it's all the first contact and experience for me and my students in our lives! We shared novelty and happiness together.
Once, my students and I took a bus from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and the students sang and laughed along the way, enjoying the rural scenery. The irrigation system of American farmland and vegetable fields automatically irrigates like a fountain, with fine water columns dancing in the air, interweaving to form a beautiful scenery. The sides of the highway are covered with green plants and flowers, which are overwhelming. Cars travel at high speeds on the highway, densely and orderly. While enjoying the scenery, our large car suddenly malfunctioned and stopped at the roadside. Me and
The teachers were a bit worried, but the driver was very calm. He said the police cars would come to rescue us soon, and indeed, in less than ten minutes, five police cars arrived. The police asked every three students to get into a car and take them to a beautiful town nearby to rest. The police made five round trips and transported the teachers and students to a safe place. Throughout the process, the police were very friendly, and the students were also very excited and excited. They rushed to take photos with the police and presented flowers to express their gratitude.
The summer camp we visited for the first time in the United States caused a sensation in both Xi'an and the United States. The scene of students wearing beautiful school uniforms and behaving in a civilized and orderly manner has attracted the attention of American citizens and the media. At first, some people thought we were Japanese students. Later, they thought we were Taiwanese students when they heard that we spoke Chinese. Finally, they confirmed that we were from Xi'an, Chinese Mainland. Our team is particularly eye-catching in Los Angeles, which is the largest gathering place for Chinese overseas. However, due to historical reasons, they have hardly seen any high school student groups from mainland China, especially the elderly overseas Chinese who did not expect that children from mainland China are so healthy, lively, well-dressed, and well behaved! Many mainstream English media outlets such as CNN, Los Angeles Times, Chinese media such as World Journal, Overseas Chinese Daily, and International Daily have conducted follow-up reports. The Speaker of the California Legislature arranged student performances and meetings in the Congress Hall, and local primary and secondary school principals and teachers also conducted educational exchange activities with us. The city government of Elmondy has also awarded us and all the teachers and students of the Youth League the title of Honorary Citizen. The first visit of Bodi School to the United States for exchange was a complete success. Bodi School has held eight summer camps to the United States in the past thirty years, exchanging nearly 500 teachers and students. Our Bodhi School has maintained friendly educational exchanges with American citizens for thirty years and will continue to maintain good interaction in the future.
Bodi students going to the United States for exchange has broadened their international perspective. By participating in activities with American primary and secondary school students and visiting American families, they are deeply inspired. They learned that American students do not casually ask their parents for pocket money, but rather obtain it through their own labor. We have also gained a detailed understanding of the course selection and class based learning model in American high schools, as well as the importance of emphasizing the cultivation of social communication skills. After entering the 21st century, educational exchanges between China and the West have become widespread, and good educational models from abroad have gradually been introduced. Our current high school course selection and teaching model reform also refer to the class based education system in developed countries. A good education model does not distinguish between culture and national borders, and the world gradually becomes smaller through communication. Since I entered the world, I have deeply realized that communication and learning with the outside world will promote innovation and change in schools. It is also one of the channels to cultivate teachers and broaden students' horizons. We not only communicate with the United States and Japan, but also visit Japan and South Korea multiple times for our inspection teams and summer camps. We also receive student and teacher groups from all over the world. For example, our exchange with the renowned private high school Nara Nishida and Kindergarten Friendship School in Japan has been ongoing for thirty years and we maintain a close cooperative relationship.
The founder of this school is a member of the Japanese parliament, who has sent more than 10000 teachers and students to China for friendly exchanges between Chinese and Japanese youth. His famous saying is "closer neighbors are better than distant relatives", hoping that the youth of the two countries will be friendly and contribute to world peace. The Boy Scouts of the United States have also visited our school multiple times, and Mr. Zhang Daohong, then Deputy Mayor, and Ms. Fan Xiaomei, Deputy Governor of Shaanxi Province, as well as the Director of Foreign Affairs, have personally received them. Our school is a Chinese language teaching base of the National Hanban, and has undertaken short-term Chinese language teaching tasks for international students from the United States, Japan, South Korea, Kazakhstan, and African countries multiple times. We have arranged for over 200 American visiting students to live in Bodhi's student families four times, and they have been warmly welcomed by Bodhi's parents. This not only improves students' language communication skills, but also enhances friendship. Many students still maintain contact to this day.
Through openness and communication, Bodi School not only allows students to go abroad and understand the world, but also invites international friends into our campus. This open educational philosophy allows teachers and students to not only understand the different cultures of different countries, but also see the gap between us and developed countries and our own advantages. They have personally experienced that education knows no borders, and have also experienced the coexistence of competition and cooperation in today's world. Going abroad to see the gap has strengthened their sense of responsibility and mission, and they have come to understand that patriotism is not just empty words, but rather a personal experience and action. After Bodi students went abroad, their footprints spread to prestigious schools in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Japan. After achieving academic success, many students choose to return to China to serve their country and make their own contributions to the development of the country.
General Secretary Xi said: "We need to improve the strategy of opening up education to the outside world, coordinate the two major articles of" bringing in "and" going out ", effectively utilize world-class educational resources and innovative elements, and make China an important education center with strong influence in the world. We need to actively participate in global education governance, vigorously promote the construction of the" Study Abroad in China "brand, tell the story of China well, disseminate Chinese experience, and voice China, and enhance the international influence and discourse power of China's education."
Although I am 84 years old, my passion for education remains strong and my career continues. The education reform and opening up journey of Bodi School is still ongoing, and education has no borders or endpoint. We still need to bravely move forward. Bodi School will continue to provide students with a global development space. If Chinese youth are strong, the country will be strong, and if China is strong, the world will be strong.
