Zhang Guimei, a 63-year-old woman who has devoted to education for needy girls, recently won a national-level honorary title, the March 8th Red-banner Pacesetter, one of the highest honors for Chinese women for their excellent achievements in different fields.

Zhang founded the Huaping Senior High School for Girls in Lijiang City, Southwest China's Yunnan Province, in 2008. It was the country's first all-girls public high school that does not charge tuition fees, and it has helped more than 1,600 students realize their dreams of receiving higher education.

Zhang has spent more than a million yuan (US $142,594), part of which was originally for her medical treatment, in running the school in the mountains, and she stuck to her position even when she was feeling under the weather. 

For the past 10 years, Zhang has seen off graduates heading for the gaokao (the national college entrance examination), and was never absent.

"I will fight as long as I can still grab a breath," she said.

To her relief, her students achieved good results in this year's gaokao — among all the 159 students, 70 were eligible for admission to good universities in China, according to the local government.

Zhang was proud of all the girls as they ranked in the forefront both in Lijiang City and in the county as a whole, but she will never cease taking steps for better results. "Compared to big cities, we still lag behind," she noted.

In addition to the next generation's education, she also cared for their lives. As president of a children's welfare home in Huaping for two decades, she has shown care and love to 130 unaccompanied children.

The All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) announced Zhang an outstanding example of a Chinese woman in the new era, who remains true to her original aspiration, keeps her mission firmly in mind as a CPC member, and dedicates all her life to the cause of education and impoverished people.

The ACWF called on more Chinese women to learn from her selfless devotion and struggling spirit and to continue to contribute to the poverty alleviation work.

(Women of China)