Chinese-style 'study grandparents'

Editor's note: Phoenix Elementary School is located in a remote village in Yong'an County in China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Because of its size and high altitude, the county is usually called "the small Qinghai-Tibet Plateau". There are old people accompanying their grandchildren at the school. Living in the school with their grandchildren and taking care of them, these old people are dubbed "study grandparents." Sixty-one-year-old Huang Linxiu is one of them.

Huang lives in a 10-square-meter dormitory, which she shares with her three grandchildren and another grandmother and her grandson. Four beds are arranged in the dormitory, and the room is full of clothes and quilts, and there is only one narrow way to movement. The poster reading "studies garden" has become blurred.

Huang has been accompanying her grandchildren for seven years, and life is hard for her. Her husband passed away in September, 2013, after which she has not only had to deal with household duties but also take care of her grandchildren. Because her hometown has no cement road, she has to commute on foot. It takes her three hours to walk from the school back to her home.

Neither of her grandchildren are in good health. One day, her granddaughter had a high fever at night, and she had no choice but to leave her grandsons alone and bring her granddaughter to the health center in the rain. Moreover, Huang suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes, so she has to spend about 300 yuan on medicine every month, while also saving money to buy fruits for her grandchildren.

Huang's life is very simple. Every day, she wakes up at seven to cook breakfast and dress her granddaughter. In the morning, Huang goes to wash her and her grandchildren's clothes and chop firewood on the mountain. At noon, she brings rice noodles to her grandchildren, and in the afternoon and evening she tends the plot of land provided by the school for free. Huang repeats this routine every day, but she also feels that she doesn't have enough time to get everything done.

Huang dropped out of school in the fourth grade, and her lack of knowledge prevents her from exploring the outside world. "I don't know the way and I can't understand the station boards. I am afraid to go out to find a job, after all, they need people with computer skills and English ability," Huang said. She insists that knowledge is the most important part of life, so she encourages her children to go outside to find jobs while she stays at home to be a "study grandma".

Huang Linxiu lives in a 10-square-meter dormitory, which she shares with her three grandchildren and another grandmother and her grandson. Although the house is small, it is the home Huang Linxiu places her hope on. [Photo/China.org.cn]