Peking University, October 21, 2022: The spirit of volunteerism reaches beyond mountains and oceans, with many dedicating their youth to serving the people. Among them is Yeshan, a youth from Tianshan Mountains in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, who has an unwavering commitment to volunteerism. A member of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and a student at Peking University, Yeshan returned to Xinjiang twice to teach, spreading the light of education in his hometown. When he came back to Peking University, he actively volunteered in major events such as the Beijing Winter Olympics. The story of his life surrounds and is enriched by volunteer work. This is his story.
“The bulk of what I do is related to my hometown. Joining clubs, writing theses, providing teaching support, it all comes back to Xinjiang.”
Yeshan Yeerbulati hails from Tianshan Mountains, and has been an outstanding member of the CPC for two years. Upon graduating from high school, Yeshan came to Beijing to pursue higher education. He returned to Xinjiang to teach for a year after finishing his undergraduate studies at PKU.
Volunteering as a teacher in Xinjiang
Looking at the mountain of letters before him, Yeshan slowly picked one out and unfolded it.
“These are the letters that the children wrote to me when my teaching term was about to end. This one reads ‘From the students of Grade 11 Class 2.’ They told me that I should read it only after I returned to Beijing,” Yeshan said.
The children’s love for Yeshan could be felt in the careful strokes of every written word on the letter. “I remember always dozing off in class and failing exams when I was a freshman in high school. I thought I was going to give up. Please come back to visit before Gaokao, and please attend our graduation ceremony,” one letter wrote.
Yeshan at the school he taught at to attend his students’ graduation ceremony in 2022
It was not Yeshan’s first time volunteering as a teacher. Back in the summer of 2019, he led the members of the Northwest Research and Development Association of Peking University, a student association, to a middle school near the borders of the Taklamakan Desert, situated in the Tarim Basin, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. In 2020, he went back to Xinjiang as a volunteer of the Peking University Postgraduate Teaching Team, bringing the world beyond the mountains into the classroom. Yeshan hopes through with his efforts, more and more people can get to know the western region of China.
Yeshan and the children
“I myself am a Kazakh youth from Xinjiang. I like to say that the water from Weiming Lake at PKU and the snow on Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang has been nourishing me,” he said, adding “Therefore I hope to have the opportunity to bring whatever knowledge I learned at Peking University back to my hometown, to be able to share with the children back home the stories of the world I saw from Peking University.” “I hope I can make use of the vision that I gained at Peking University, to benefit the community and the nation.”
Volunteering in the new era
Facing the changing times, what is the next step for young people? Yeshan has never stopped exploring.
In the winter of early 2022, Yeshan and 630 volunteers from Peking University helped out in the Winter Olympics. Together, they showed the world the youthful demeanor of the university’s volunteers. Whether it is an international metropolis, or a village at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains, Yeshan sees the same vast world.
Ignite—The flame continues
Today, Yeshan is pursuing his master’s degree at the School of Marxism at Peking University. Under the guidance of his seniors, through reading original works, learning original texts and understanding original principles, Yeshan better understood the profound thoughts of these pioneers. At the same time, he continues to be down-to-earth and demonstrates the initiative of Party members. He worked with like-minded people to tell the story of the nation’s frontier, an ongoing effort that will benefit the future. Now as a senior, he has passed on the spirit of the teaching team to new batches of students.
The 25th Peking University Postgraduate Teaching Team has been assembled and young people from various departments have come together, to ignite the flame of hope yet again, year after year. As of 2022, Peking University has sent 422 postgraduate volunteers to Western China. Next year, 28 more youth volunteers will be present in all corners of the nation.
As a young Party member, Yeshan knows that volunteering as a teacher is not just to facilitate basic education in Western China, but also an effort to carry forward the spirit of the Party and benefit the well-being of the people. Education is an effort that stays true to the promise of “No one left behind.” This is not the fight of any one person, but the choice of a whole generation of young Party members.
Written by: Wu Jiayun
Edited by: Ng Joong Hwee
Source: PKU News (
Chinese)
