Editor's Note

With the care of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, and under the leadership of the All-China Women's Federation, the China Children and Teenagers' Fund (CCTF) launched the Spring Bud Project in 1989, to help impoverished girls return to school, and to promote girls' education in disadvantaged areas.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, in 2012, with the attention and concern of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, and with the strong support of Peng Liyuan, special envoy of the Spring Bud Project for promoting girls' education, the project has conducted various activities to care for and support girls, and it has focused on girls' education, safety and health. During the past decade, the project has supported 1.76 million girls, and it has provided one-on-one companionship services and personalized psychological counseling to 133,400 girls. After they receive support from the project, the Spring Bud girls never forget to give back to society. With love and various actions, the girls have demonstrated the Spring Bud spirit of "unremitting self-improvement, striving for excellence, developing stronger virtues and pursuing better lives."

Today, we introduce a new section, Spring Bud Blooms, to share stories about Spring Bud girls who have grown up and become contributing members of society, and to encourage society to care for the development of girls. Xie Yuyue​ is one of them.

The Spring Bud Project has made it possible for Xie Yuyue, from a once-impoverished rural family in Rongshui Miao Autonomous County, in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, to lead a totally different life from the one she was born into.

Xie, 38, is Party (Communist Party of China) branch secretary of the manufacturing and sales department of Guangxi Yuchai Heavy Industry Co., Ltd, in Yulin, a city in Guangxi.

"Without the Spring Bud Project, I certainly wouldn't be where I am today," Xie often says.

She has always taken pride in being a recipient of the project, and she has always done her utmost to help people in need.

Xie clearly remembers the time in her life when there was not enough food for her family, and also the time when people in her village believed girls from impoverished families should earn a living and get married at an early age instead of attending school.

However, Xie was fortunate enough to receive timely assistance — in 1988, when she was in Grade 4 — from the China Children and Teenagers' Fund (CCTF) and Rongshui Women's Federation before she dropped out of school.

As the birthplace of the Spring Bud Project, Rongshui establishes Spring Bud girls' classes every year.

Xie became a student of the girls' class when she was in fourth grade, and she was always one of the top students in the class until she completed primary school.

In 1997, CCTF established the first Spring Bud girls' class in Beijing No. 171 Middle School, and 30 Spring Bud girls, from across the country, were enrolled in that class. After several rounds of selection and appraisal, Xie was offered the opportunity to move to Beijing to study in that class.

It was Xie's first time in Beijing. Her classmates were Spring Bud girls from 11 provinces, autonomous regions or municipalities.

Xie Yuyue, as a representative of Spring Bud girls, gives a speech during a Spring Bud conference.

During their stay in Beijing, Xie and the other girls in the class felt the love of their teachers, and the love from many caring people.

The school provided the girls with housing, and it arranged for two teachers to take care of the girls. The teachers lived with the girls, in rotation, and they comforted the girls, the way their mothers would have, when the girls felt homesick. The teachers also helped the girls when they encountered difficulties. 

The teachers also arranged for the girls to tour Beijing, and to participate in all types of social activities, especially during weekends, to help them expand their horizons.

Gradually, Xie became more optimistic, and more willing to make friends and help the other girls. She was admitted to Capital Normal University in 2003.

During her four years of university life, Xie worked hard, grasped every opportunity to participate in work-study activities, and aspired to return to Guangxi to participate in its economic and social development.

After she graduated, Xie was hired by Guangxi Yuchai Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. Given her outstanding performance, she was appointed Party branch secretary of its manufacturing and sales department in 2020. She was also elected a member of the firm's Party committee that year.

Xie, the mother of two children, often tells her children the stories of the Spring Bud Project. She passes on the Spring Bud spirit to her children, and she encourages them to be grateful.

"As a beneficiary of the Spring Bud Project, I always keep an optimistic attitude, bear in mind my identity as a Spring Bud girl, and follow strict self-discipline," Xie says.

Xie cares about her colleagues. She played a leading role in developing a database, for production management, and she helped incorporate Party-building affairs into business operations.

Xie has organized and participated — including donating her own money — in activities to raise money for the Spring Bud Project, and for other charitable initiatives, within her company. She also participated in charitable activities organized by the Guangxi Women's Federation, and she called on people to donate to the Spring Bud Project.

She and her former classmates from Beijing No. 171 Middle School also raise funds for the project.

Given her experience, Xie has a better understanding of what it means to care for the Spring Bud girls. "The Spring Bud girls need not only material support, but also companionship throughout their growing-up process," Xie says.

After she learned CCTF had introduced a paired-assistance charitable project, Xie immediately contacted program employees to offer her assistance in rolling out the initiative in Guangxi. She explained that she wanted to inspire children, with her own experience, and to help them understand how they could spend their youth.

Several years ago, Xie, accompanied by her children, reunited with Chang Ye, head teacher of her Spring Bud class in Beijing. Xie's children concluded, after witnessing the reunion, that there was deep bond between Xie and Chang.

"Everyone who contributes love to the Spring Bud Project is a person who is kind and sincere to others," Xie explained to her children.

"I hope, through my words and actions, I will have a positive influence on my children, and other people, so the love and care will be passed on from generation to generation," Xie says.

Photos Supplied by CCTF

(Women of China English Monthly)