Zhang Guimei is an educator who helped establish China's first senior high school to offer free education to girls from poor families.

In August 1996, Zhang Guimei, a teacher, came to Lijiang and was touched by the innocent faces of children eager for knowledge.

She was the first to enter the classroom every morning and the last to leave.

After becoming a teacher, Zhang noticed that female students quit school gradually.

On home visits, she found a variety of reasons for their dropping out, including farm work and marriage.

"Educating a girl can affect at least three generations. If we could cultivate educated and responsible mothers, children in the mountains will not drop out of school", she said.

In 2008, Huaping Senior High School was established, marking China's first free high school for girls. The first class had 100 students who were all orphans, poor, disabled or had a single parent.

Since the school opened in 2008, it has seen more than 2,000 students progress to universities and colleges.

Every morning at 5:10 a.m., Zhang stepped out of her third-floor dormitory, and turned on the lights in the stairway, which has also illuminated the path to college for underprivileged girls.

On June 29, 2021, at the Great Hall of the People, Zhang was awarded the July 1 Medal, the highest state honor.

(Illustrated by Lu Lingxing; Produced by Cheng Weidan and Shan Xin)