Feature: Everyday hero -- Granny Pan offers free after-school classes for 25 years
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Walking around her neighborhood, Pan Yulian, 75, is always recognized. Vendors, tailors, bakers... Everyone greets her and calls her "Pan Lao Shi," or Teacher Pan, although she is not a professional school teacher.

For 25 years, Granny Pan, as she is affectionately known, has run a free after-school class in her home for children in Shule County, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. More than 2,000 students have passed through her small mud brick house, hidden in a narrow lane.

Xinjiang is home to 47 ethnic groups. Although educational facilities in the region have been developing quickly with increasing government funding, schools are still short of teachers who can fluently speak both Mandarin, China's official tongue, and one of the local ethnic minority languages.

In 2015, regional education authorities said Xinjiang had a shortage of more than 30,000 teachers proficient in both Mandarin and one local language.

In Pan's community, more than 4,600 km away from the capital Beijing, around two thirds of the families speak Uygur.

Pan grew up bilingual, with a Han father and Uygur mother. She has also taught herself English.

In 1992, when she returned to Shule County after working in Tibet Autonomous Region, she saw local children fooling around in the streets after school.

"Most of the kids are from low-income families. Their parents are busy working. Many of the parents don't speak Mandarin. They don't have the time or ability to help their children study. I wanted to help," she said.

At first, she taught Mandarin to two of her neighbors' children. Then more parents started to send their children to her.

Pan turned the two-room mud brick house she inherited from her parents into a classroom to accommodate the increasing numbers of students. The bigger room, its walls plastered with children's paintings and certificates of merit, is where she teaches. The smaller room, about 10 square meters, is where she lives.

Every afternoon when they get out of school, the children rush to Granny Pan's house. She helps them study Mandarin, Math, English, and other subjects based on their textbooks.

Pan keeps a poker face during class. With only a high school education, she has never received any teacher training, but she has developed her own techniques over the years. She instructs the children to read and write Chinese and English words over and over until they have total mastery.

Roxingul, whose nine-year-old son attends Pan's classes, said the elderly teacher has been a great help to her family. Roxingul's husband is a taxi driver and works from morning till night. Roxingul stays at home looking after their four children, the youngest just an infant.

"Granny Pan teaches Mandarin and English really well. I hope my son can study hard to become a good and capable person in the future," said Roxingul.

Pan's classes are free of charge. She refuses to accept any money from her students' families, many of whom are struggling to make ends meet.

"Whoever comes into my classroom is welcomed," she said.

Pan lives on a monthly government pension of 300 yuan. To make her money stretch further, she eats simple food, mainly naan, an oven-baked flat bread and doesn't buy new clothes.

As frugally as she lives, Pan treats the children generously. She repairs their torn books and buys them stationery. She treats them to dried apricots and tea while they study.

She walks around her neighborhood every morning carrying a big bag, and picks up plastic bottles littered on the streets. Every 220 bottles she collects can be exchanged for the equivalent of 1 U.S. dollar to buy stationary for her students.

Pan said teaching the children has given her life new meaning. "Were it not for the children, I don't know what I would do to pass time," she said

Hebibulla Hoshur, 23, is one of the dozens of Pan's former students who have gone on to attend college. He is studying clinical medicine at University of South China in Hunan Province, about 3,500 kilometers from home.

"Granny Pan had a huge impact on my life. She taught me not only knowledge but also perseverance, kindness, and sincerity. It's thanks to her teaching and help, that I have gone this far," Hoshur said.

Hoshur returns to Shule during university vacations and helps Pan with her classes. He said he enjoys sharing stories about his college life with Pan and the children.

In a wooden box, Pan keeps a flower, dried but well preserved. It was a gift from her students on Mother's Day seven years ago.

"It is the most precious gift I have ever received," she said.

Author： 　　　Source：xinhua　　　 Editor：Yang Fan