Zhu Xiangbing has spent nearly 40 years ensuring kids in Dongxi village are educated

Forty years ago, when Zhu Xiangbing decided to teach at the only primary school in his home village, he did not expect it would develop into a decades-long career.

"I just can't leave," Zhu said. "I will stay here forever."

Nestled in the mountains of the Shennongjia National Nature Reserve in Hubei province, the Dongxi Primary School is about a five-hour drive from the downtown of Shennongjia Forestry district. For the past 39 years, Zhu has helped over 200 students emerge from the mountains.

Back in 1984, Zhu had just graduated from junior middle school and was preparing to take the exam to enter senior middle school. One day, the Party chief of Dongxi village (then known as Xiangshui village) came to visit Zhu, who was the only student with a middle school education in the village at the time, and asked if he would like to be the teacher at the village's primary school.

The opportunity presented a dilemma for Zhu. Accepting the job meant he would not be able to leave the village, but if he declined, the students there would be left with no teacher.

After spending a night agonizing over the decision, Zhu decided to take the offer. He said he could not resist the students' unquenchable thirst for knowledge.

With limited experience, he worked hard to hone his teaching skills. Every week, he walked for an hour on the mountain road to learn from his former middle school teachers, and he also taught himself in his spare time.

Zhu also often spent three to four hours walking on mountain roads every day to visit his students' homes. He knew a great deal about them — not only their personalities, but also their living situations.

"Mr Zhu often visited my home and encouraged me to study hard," recalled one student, who prefers to be called Xiaoyuan.

Xiaoyuan was "found" by Zhu on the street. Due to poverty and neglect from her parents, she hadn't received a single day of formal education by the time she was 9 years old.

Zhu helped Xiaoyuan enroll at school and apply for financial aid. Like her, more than 30 other students from impoverished families have received economic assistance thanks to Zhu.

The rural school has a high turnover rate due to its harsh working conditions. To retain new teachers, Zhu tries his best to "make them feel at home". He often invites them to live and eat at his house.

"Our home is like a branch of the school canteen," Zhu's wife said jokingly.

Teacher Jia Yuansen is a frequent guest at the "family canteen" and has been joining the couple for dinner for four years. Because the school has no dormitories for new teachers, Zhu let Jia and several others stay at his home for a year.

Over the years, Zhu has had many opportunities to move on but has chosen to stay. Since 2010, many of the older teachers have retired. Zhu fears that if he left, there would be no veteran teachers in the school to guide the younger ones.

"There have been opportunities for job transfers, but I turned them down," he said. "I want to stay and help more young teachers grow and take root here."