Spirit never dies

Over 100 people attended her funeral on June 22. The story of how a young woman sacrificed her life on the way to help a poor village is inspiring. Activities were held on the campus of Beijing Normal University to mourn the loss. Qiu Jianzhong, a student there, tells Guangming Daily that Huang Wenxiu has become a role model.

"She had a spirit that's rarely seen but most needed in our modern times - dedication to the country."

Sui Lulu, a teacher at the university, encouraged students to "combine individual dreams with Chinese dreams" when speaking about Huang Wenxiu, the paper reports.

Yan Jianhua, a teacher at Changzhi University in Shanxi province, where Huang Wenxiu studied as an undergraduate student, tells the paper that she had strong faith as a member of the Communist Party of China. She loved the country, was loyal and shouldered responsibility with no fear of difficulties.

Huang Wenxiu once wrote: "Whoever works for poverty alleviation should be as proud as soldiers during wartime."

Qin Weifeng, deputy director of the publicity department of Baise, says: "She achieved the goal of poverty relief in the poor village. We call her a role model because she devoted herself to the battle against poverty and the improvement of people's livelihoods."

Meng Lei, an official from the publicity department in Guangxi's capital, Nanning, who is now working as a village Party chief, adds that officials should become involved in local communities to better understand people's lives when working on poverty alleviation.

Huang Wenxiu was named a "national model for poverty alleviation" by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development in late June.

Contact the writer at [email protected]

Xinhua, Shi Ruipeng and Zhang Li contributed to this story.

(China Daily 07/02/2019 page20)