Wen Xionghui is a calligraphy(书法) teacher who works at Dongyuan Senior High School in Heyuan, Guangdong Province. Every Friday afternoon, he travels to rural(农村的) areas in Heyuan to teach students calligraphy.
Wen started working as a volunteer calligraphy teacher in rural schools in 2014. For the past few years, he has taught in several schools. "It takes me at least 1.5 hours to reach the nearest school by bus, and over 3 hours to get to the farthest school," Wen says. The journey is harder if there's bad weather, but Wen has never missed a class. "I'm glad when I see students make progress. I feel tired but happy," he adds.
Most of Wen's students areleft-behind children(留守儿童). Wen says that although rural children start to learn calligraphy later than children in cities, this doesn't mean that they aren't excellent students. In fact, he always finds students with a talent for art in rural schools, and some have become quite skilled because they keep practicing.
Wen not only teaches students calligraphy in rural areas, but also spreads a love of traditional art and culture. "Teaching art is really meaningful in rural areas because there aren't enough art teachers there," Wen says.
Li Zhihong, an expert in calligraphy, thinks that Wen has set a good example for his students. "He has taught them that learning calligraphy requiresperseverance(毅力), just as what he has worked hard with for years," Li says.
