At 92 Years Old, Retired Man Still Teaches Left-Behind Children

Judging from the photo below, how old do you think this person is? 

It shouldn’t be too hard to guess given the answer is in the title of this article, but imagine this for a moment: a 92-year-old man holding a tiny piece of chalk, writing on a blackboard as clearly as either one of us would - if not better.

This old man is Ye Lianping, an English teacher who is preparing for his class. He has been doing it for the last 19 years.

Although retired, Ye keeps himself busy in the summertime by teaching the “left-behind” children in his village of Buchen in Anhui province.

Three hours in the morning, and two more in the afternoon, every day of the week. 

And as if that wasn’t enough, Mr. Lianping also prints textbooks for children and grades his students’ homework after hours. 

Needless to say, his schedule is full.

Every day, Ye Lianping teaches for three hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon.

In addition to classes, he also prints textbooks for children, corrects and comments on homework.

His schedule is full.

In 2000, Ye Lianping, then 73 years old, decided to set up a special summer program for left-behind minors with free English classes.

As most parents in his village are gone to more populated cities for work and don’t have much time left to spend on homework, only their children and their elderly stay put in the village.

Ye and his wife don’t have any children and live a poor, yet simple life, having been in the same bungalow he built for themselves over 30 years ago.

Nevertheless, the children who live and eat in Ye Lianping's home have always shown great appreciation for his time and dedication to the community.

Some of his students live far away from school, which is why Ye and his wife allows them to sleep in their own home without asking for anything else in return. 

In his 19 years teaching there, Ye has helped more than 1,000 children!

After receiving the above-shown origami that some of his students made for him, all he could do at that moment in time was smile like the happy child he always is.

Although his age continues to grow, his spirit remains forever young.

“The candle is very bright, and the place it illuminates is very spacious. On the contrary, the space that I illuminate is very limited. It’s a shimmering firefly, at best. Given my age, what I lack most now is time. Every day, I have to race against time.”

- Ye Lianping

Video:

Source: xinhuafoto

 Editor: Crystal Huang

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