Quality education is pivotal to alleviating poverty, especially for minorities isolated by geographic, cultural and language barriers, and since Liberation in 1949, countless Han Chinese have volunteered to teach in the most challenging regions. But if poverty alleviation is to be sustainable, education, like economy, must also emphasize “blood production, not blood transfusion”. Yet training and retaining excellent indigenous educators is easier said than done.

Mr. Liang Nanyu discovered in Shuanghu, Tibet that the best teachers are recruited right out of college by the best schools, and those who ended up back in remote schools have but one goal: “Get out.”

I can’t blame these youth who’ve caught a glimpse of the world outside for wanting a better life, but how can China kindle within them a vision and passion for helping their own people?

Fortunately, it’s getting easier to lure youth back to their rural homes thanks to vastly improved rural infrastructure, education, healthcare and business opportunities. Twenty years ago, China boasted about “Garden Cities”; today, Garden Countrysides are helping slow down urbanization as youth return to seize the growing opportunities right at home. But even with better environments, it is still a challenge to get excellent minority teachers to return home—which is why I was so impressed by Yixi Danzeng’s passion for Tibetan children’s education.

Xiamen University’s First Tibetan

Yixi is from a tiny Tibetan village but he had the world at his fingertips as he studied in Beijing, Xiamen, the U.S. and Singapore. But unlike many people, his success gave him a deep sense of responsibility, not of entitlement. He rejected lucrative opportunities in China and abroad to unwaveringly pursue his goal of improving Tibetan education and “helping build my homeland”.

I’d like to think that Yixi’s dedication to Tibetan education was reinforced by his time at XMU, where he was the first Tibetan student. Yixi said the faculty moved him by their “spirit of gratefulness, responsibility and dedication”. Yixi also learned how XMU graduates have for 70 years volunteered to teach in the most difficult circumstances in Tibet—people like Ms. Ye Xueyin, now 91 years old, who began teaching in Tibet in 1950 after graduating from XMU’s biology department.

When I met Yixi in Lhasa, he looked more like an undergrad than an associate professor of Tibet University teaching English and comparative studies on Chinese, Tibetan and foreign languages and cultures. He wore a baseball cap and t-shirt and he grinned as he showed me a 15-year-old copy of my “Amoy Magic” guide to Xiamen. “This is how I learned about Xiamen!” he said.

Giving Back to the Motherland

It was hard to believe that he did not start learning Chinese until age 13 at the Beijing Tibet Middle School. And after mastering standard Chinese, he began to learn English and majored in English at Xiamen University. His English was so flawless, right down to mannerisms and gestures, that we conducted our entire conversation in English. No wonder so many people want to recruit this talented youth.

“After my graduation from Xiamen University,” Yixi said, “I had opportunities to stay in Xiamen.” Friends running a business asked me, “Do you want to join us?”

I can’t believe Yixi wasn’t at least tempted. After all, many Chinese dream of living on our garden island, which even the UN has said is a world class livable city. But Yixi had a higher goal.

“I was sent to study in other provinces because of the relatively higher level of education,” he said, “so I thought I should return to Lhasa and use my education here. After four years in Xiamen, I returned to Lhasa to work at Tibet University. Three or four years later, I had the chance to study in the U.S. so I spent two years at Kansas University getting my master’s degree in higher education. Those two years were a good experience in understanding American culture and getting to know a little bit about Western culture in real life.”

Yet Yixi was as single-minded in the U.S. as he’d been in Xiamen. A soon as he finished his first of two masters, he packed his bags, said no thank you to the American Dream, and returned once again to continue teaching at Tibet University.

In 2016, Yixi went to Singapore Nanyang Technological University to get his second master’s degree. “I stayed there for one year and then returned to Lhasa again to continue teaching at Tibet University. This is a very short story of my journey of education.”

I was astonished that this youth from a tiny Tibetan village had foregone so many opportunities to keep returning to Tibet University, but in his eyes he gave up nothing at all because the more he learned about the rest of the world, the more he appreciated being Tibetan.

Deeply Rooted in China

“I think this experience of studying in Tibet, in Beijing, and in America and Singapore, gives me this feeling of being deeply rooted in the Tibetan culture, as if I was a tree. But now I have two very strong branches. One is embedded in Chinese culture, and the other is maybe a little bit in Western culture. So I see myself like this tree.”

Yixi is determined to use his education to help Tibet because he does not take his opportunities for granted. Although privilege gives many people a sense of entitlement—I deserve even more—Yixi’s privileges have given him a deep sense of gratitude and a responsibility to pass on the good fortune that he’d have missed had he been born a generation earlier.

“I’ve seen the changes in education over the years and, frankly, if it was twenty five years ago, I don’t think a young guy like me from a common family would have the kind of opportunities I have been given to obtain such a rich education. And, you know, it was all free tuition!”

Yixi smiled broadly as he shared his vivid memories of Xiamen University. “Because I was a minority, and their first Tibetan student, Xiamen University looked after me very well and sometimes even gave me small gifts. I had to return to Lhasa a few times and the university even paid for my journey. That gave me very strong feelings for Xiamen. To this day, every time we have a visitor from Xiamen, I feel like they are a relative because I spent four years in Xiamen and have a lot of friends there. This was an important episode in my life.”

New Life Through Education

Yixi credits his education opportunities to the rapid changes in Tibet. “Education transformed my life because I was from a very common family in a very small village. But then I got all of those opportunities to study in so many big cities, and I returned to take this chance to contribute to my community.”

“Do you have many siblings?” I asked.

Yixi smiled broadly. “Yeah, we have five children in my family – a younger brother, two older brothers and an older sister.”

“And were all of them well educated?”

“I am the first one,” Yixi said.

“And how big is your home village?”

“About 200 people,” he said.

“It’s amazing that someone from such a tiny village could study in Beijing, Xiamen, the U.S. and Singapore! So how is life in your home village now compared with when you were young?”

Entrepreneurial Tibet

Yixi smiled. “I think life was pretty simple back then. When I was a kid, we didn’t even have a television. We really wanted to watch some cartoons, but we not only didn’t have a television, we didn’t even have a radio. Life was pretty simple, but now the living standard has improved tremendously.”

“Do they have a television now?” I asked.

Yixi laughed. “Televisions, refrigerators, internet, WeChat – it’s amazing to see how technology has changed the way of life even in such a very small village. Nowadays, they all keep in touch with WeChat – even the villagers. It makes communication very straightforward.”

“Yes, I know,” I said. “In Inner Mongolia, even herders use China’s Beidou satellite and microchips on cows to track herds. It’s amazing.”

“And Tibetan houses are more beautiful than they used to be,” Yixi said. “People in the villages now have very big houses like in the Midwest in America, and their own vehicles, like cars and trucks.”

“But how can they afford such big new houses?” I asked.

“I think that in some families, the children go to school and then get jobs in the city. Then they send money home to their village, and some villagers work as contractors or in other careers. Some do paintings, you know – traditional Tibetan paintings. Some are architects and others are woodsmen or carpenters. More and more money is coming into Tibet and the better economic conditions provide more opportunities. Some villagers are even doing very big business.”

“What kinds of business?” I asked.

“Like real estate,” Yixi said. “They construct buildings in the city. And sometimes villagers have a better life than city people thanks to special subsidies. For example, they don’t have to pay for electricity and water.”

“That’s a lot different than 30 years ago!” I exclaimed.

In the mid 1990s I felt it was very unfair that farmers paid more for electricity than city people, but I slowly realized the government had no choice. Power was so inadequate that even in Xiamen, a Special Economic Zone, within one hour the current could plummet from 220 to 100 volts and shoot back up to 260 volts. I wrote to family and friends in the U.S. that I fried more electronics than veggies. Power was out daily, and sometimes for several days, so we always kept candles and kerosene lamps on hand. I even carried candles to Zhongshan Road’s Xinhua Bookstore because it had no windows and was pitch black during its frequent power outages.

I’d have never dreamed in the early 1990s that within two decades the entire country would have electricity, water and phones. And no one, of course, dreamed of the internet, which even science fiction writers failed to predict, or that China would have the most extensive web of netizens on earth and thousands of “Taobao” e-commerce villages scattered across the countryside.

So I’m not surprised that some Tibetans are given free electricity. In some places like West Yunnan, the Lisu people were even given keys to free homes—and then given free furniture, bedding, cookware and firewood because, at the start, they didn’t have a penny to their name. But the government’s faith in these minorities has been well-placed, as I learned when I met a young Lisu lady who started out as a laborer and now has her own construction business and drives a BMW.

Tibet’s New Passion for Education

“Another big change from 25 years ago,” Yixi said, “is that families back then would rather keep their children at home to labor for money than let them go to school. But that has changed today. People see that education is more important than the fast money they can earn on the construction field, so more and more families are sending children to school. Both education and healthcare are better than before.”

“How has healthcare improved?” I asked.

“Village healthcare is better now, but if villagers want to see a doctor in the city, the government pays part of the bill, maybe 70% or 80%.”

“Tibet really is changing fast,” I agreed. “But what are your own plans for the future?”

“Ah, my plans for the future?” He thought a moment, and said “I am just about to publish a book, Faraway Tibet. And I want to continue my education. I have two masters, but I want to get my doctoral degree in Sichuan University. This time, my major will be Tibetan history, society and economy. No matter where I have traveled, I’ve always returned to the land of my birth, so now I want to know more about my own culture. But after my studies I will definitely return to Tibet University.”

“Why do you keep returning to Tibet University?”

“As I’ve said, I have had opportunities that many of my friends could not have dreamed of. I think it is my responsibility to return and share what I have learned, what I have seen and what I have experienced out there with my friends and my community here. I have been helping my peers to learn English, and not just at the university. I also voluntarily help students learn English, and help them apply for universities both in other provinces and in some Western countries because I know how the university systems work both here and there. So I can help, and I think this is the main reason that I keep coming back. Tibet gives me a very strong sense of belonging, because you can’t find such a culture as this anywhere else, you know.”

“You feel Tibet has a rich culture?”

Yixi laughed. “Ah, it is very rich! And it’s very unique. And I like the atmosphere of Tibet. So I think those are the two main reasons I keep returning to Tibet.”

“So what is your book about? What you saw outside of Tibet or maybe how the world sees Tibet?”

“Ah, my book. I didn’t really cover how the world sees Tibet,” Yixi said. “It’s very subjective. I wanted to share with my friends here in Tibet what I saw and experienced, and my feelings, when I was in Singapore and the U.S., and how I missed Tibet. And I also wrote a lot about how education has been changing over time by recording my friends’ experiences. I have one article named ‘Tibetan Youth’ in which I wrote about five or six young Tibetans my age, and what they are doing, thinking and experiencing. I think it is a record of very typical youth at this time, and may be of some value in the future when people look back and want to see what youth of this time were like.

“But I also wrote this book to encourage my friends, my students, my children to keep working harder, and to dare to dream. Every time I have a lecture or a class, I also tell my students that you have to dream big because look at me – I did it! I went to all these places and you can do it too. You don’t need to fear that you’re a very little boy from a little village – you can do it. And that’s the encouragement that I have been giving them. I hope that I can help inspire my students as well as my friends. And I think it has been working because some of my friends around me are trying really hard to learn English and to apply for universities in Australia. One of my friends actually went to Australia for his master’s degree. I helped him improve his English and to apply.”

Tibet’s Future—Prosperous and Inclusive

“One last question!” I said, though I could have spent days plying him with the dozens of questions I had jotted down. “Do you have any thoughts about the future of Tibet?”

“As I’ve noted, I think people’s life quality has been improving in terms of education, in terms of healthcare, in terms of public transportation. The improvements are fast, and I think they will continue for a very long time. And I see a good picture because I’m a very inclusive and culturally tolerant person. And I think Lhasa is a very diverse place. Actually we have mosques. To be exact, I found out that we have three mosques. One is right next to a temple that is a center of Buddhism. And Lhasa has people of all kinds of ethnic groups from all over the country. I think Lhasa is a very tolerant and diverse city. I enjoy this, and I think it will continue to become more and more diverse.”

“Thanks so much for sharing your story,” I said to Yixi.

“Sure thing,” he said. “I think that in this interview, the best part is my own story. Stories such as the national housing projects for villagers – people have heard that before. But the real story here is the story of my education – how my journey of education transformed me from a little village boy to an associate professor at a higher institution.”

“We have this kind of environment encouraging young people. Some of my friends are doing business and the government has all kinds of preferential policies to help young Tibetans become entrepreneurs. Some of my friends are lawyers, teachers and professors. And that’s the main point for me – that China has these policies and environment to help young minority students receive an education. And this is my story.”

And quite a story it was. I could have spent days with Yixi, but I’ll see him again soon because he agreed to coauthor Magic Tibet with me.

On my next trip to Tibet, I hope to interview some of Yixi’s students, because I’ve heard how he inspires in the classroom with his passion, urging students to not just read but to experience the richness of languages and cultures in the real world.

And maybe as Yixi and I write Magic Tibet I can sit in on some of his classes. After all, as I learned when our 51-year-old Xiamen University gate guard got his law degree last summer, in China, learning is truly a lifelong adventure.

Thuk-je-che, Yixi Danzeng. I could probably write an entire book about Yixi, but I was to learn even more about Tibetan culture from a Han Chinese teacher, Yang Yuanjian, who with his wife not only volunteered to teach Tibetans in the inhospitable environment of Ganzi, Sichuan, but also taught Tibetans about their own culture!