Background
The trip to Ding Bien County, Shaanxi began from Yin Chuen of Ning Xia Hui Autonomous Region after transportation was arranged through my relatives living there. The destination is Huang Yang Duen Elementary School of Huang Pun Shan Village (Xan), about two hours drive south of Ding Bien.

This is one of the two schools in northern Shannxi that CTEF has identified to explore further for possible assistance.These two were the three finalists from the initial list of six forwarded to CTEF via a contact in California who learnt of them through the Women Union's publication in Shaanxi.Beside visiting Huang Yang Duen Elementary, representatives from the Che Jia Ta Elementary School of Wu Bu County were notified to meet me at Ding Bian as well.

The road between Yin Chuan and Ding Bian consists of a portion of tolled high way built in the last year to international standards, but the rest were under construction and are un-regulated by any traffic rules. Cars and trucks must negotiate back and forth on both sides of the median between ditches and uneven dirt surfaces. It took about three hours to travel between the two towns. So we left Yin Chuan at 7:30 AM.

Weather was cold of five degree below zero but sunny and dry air.Since I was advised by Vice Principal Li of Ding Bien High School about the poor road conditions going to Huang Yang Duen, my relative rented a small truck with high ground clearance for this trip.Besides the two drivers who shared the driving of five hours each way, I was accompanied by Xiao Wang, the director of the nursing home where my aunt is staying. Xiao Wang is a graduate of Ning Xia University and has worked in Canada before. Her jobs placed her in contact with a few foreign charity groups before and is recommended by my relatives as my advisor and guide to the wilderness of northern Shannxi.

Meeting the Officials

Arrived Ding Bian around 11 AM after crossing the Yellow River and drove along part of the Great Wall (of Ming Dynasty) and the city of Yan Je (Salt Lake). Contacted Mr. Li via cell phone and found the high school. We asked around the school yard and located his office.He is kind of tall and looks like a city folk with a baseball cap on. The reception in his small office was cool. No usual welcome nor drink offered.My guide was not pleased due to the fact that we traveled this far to meet him and possibly helping schools in his county. I reasoned that our visit had nothing to do with his high school and that I didn't act official enough.After a brief introduction and described my mission, I decided to stick with business and request to meet with the head of the county education bureau, Mr. Pai, to learn more about the school building program. Mr. Li showed me the video from his camcorder on his last trip to the school.

While we waited for Mr. Pai to join us for the trip, my crew and I had a quick lunch of beef noodle and local bread from street vendor.

Then Mr. Li took me to meet with the two village representatives from Wu Bu.The principal of Tsai Jia Ta School had to stayed behind to teach.These two arrived the day before and were staying in a local inn.? We met in their room to save time.?Both are old men who spoke with heavy accent.?They were not talkative and spoke only when asked. They brought with them an updated list on the school project and cost estimate by units.?Basically it was the same as what they submitted to the Women Union. I asked them to redo the budget not by various material costs but by area such as the building, the road and the school yard, etc. They said no problem.?Not sure of the schedule for the remaining time of the day, we did not make arrangement to meet for dinner.?

Once outside the inn, I reminded Mr. Li to ask the Wu Bu folks if they want to be reimbursed for their trip to Ding Bien. His previous try produced no firm answer.? Then we met with Mr. Pai who obtained a car with driver to lead the way.? He is short and slightly overweight and dressed exactly like a county official.?

The Trip to the School

The first part of the trip was on paved road winding through a few villages.? The fields all around were bare and brown with hardly any vegetation. Only crop I saw was sunflower for the seeds. The terrain shows signs of wind and water erosions.? After about an hour on paved road, we arrived at the village of Huang Pun Shan for a briefing with the village officials.? See the next section that follows.

As we continued the trip to the school,? the cars turned onto a single lane dirt road at the bottom of a valley and started the climb.? Actually dirt is not the right word, its more like dust, fine powdery dust that flew into a large cloud behind the car.? The driver had to turn off the fan and close all windows to avoid the dust to get inside.? Later on, the rut where the wheels travel were so deep that the car bottom was scraping the dirt that the dust came through the opening of the shift stick on the floor.?

We ran into a couple tractors and a water truck that our car had to pull aside to pass.? A very tricky and risky maneuver.? There were a few caves here and there where the villagers live.? But they were so far apart that made me wonder how long and how far the kids have to walk every day on the dirt/dust road to the school.?? The dirt road is about 25 km long but it took us 40 min. to get to the school.? The photos taken along that road show the condition.

The Meeting

Mr. Li and Mr. Pai's car pulled into the yard of the village offices where the Party Secretary Mr. Li and the Village Chief Mr. Chen came out to greet us.? Obviously Teacher Li called them about my visit.? Since we were short on time, we declined the late lunch and head into the conference room for briefing.? I started with CTEF's mission and Party Secretary Li did all the talking.? He read off the same historical data as submitted to the Women Union but handed me a new and expanded building program.? Also submitted is an "Affidavit" showing that the village has collected RMB 60,000 in the village "Trust Fund" (shen yung she).

Then Mr. Pai, the County Education? Bureau Chief kept reminded me that the proposed school will be a show piece for the county and everything will be done properly.

However, the answers they gave for my questions were not.? Without mentioning the tough farming conditions (no water) and low income (RMB 365/yr) of the villagers, I asked what has been the population movement in the past few years and any projection in the future.? I know for a fact that many young folks from this part are moving to towns and cities to seek better work.? The party Secretary answered " the student population in the coming 10 years will be stable and will increase in 15 years".?? When asked about the county-wide education system, Bureau Chief Pai answered without admitting that he has no idea, he mentioned that there were three schools built recently with outside help.? But when I request to have documents for reference, he promised none.

At closing, I requested that an updated cost estimate be prepared for the expanded school project and was told that it will be available in a week.? Teacher Li will be our contact person and will forward that information to Dongjin Cai. Without further awkward conversation, I looked at my watch and said lets visit the school.

The School

It is exactly as shown in the photos that we received last month.? We pulled up outside the school yard wall at about 3:40 PM and the classes were not out yet.? After introduced to the three teachers pulled from the classrooms, I took a quick tour of all the caves.? The one left of the classrooms is the toilet and it smells.? The one to the right is a small room for two of the teachers.? Inside I saw a raised earth bed at the far end and two desks for grading school works by the door.? The last cave to the right is the kitchen.?

There was no electrical light in any of the room since there is no power connection.? Each classroom has a small metal stove that vented to the outside through a hole in the window.? One teacher showed me the cracks at the ceiling in the freshly painted caves.? My reaction to the cracks was no big deal since the caves were carved years ago.? Its the shrinkage of the new paint that caused the cracks and not that the cave is falling down.? But the dim light available in the back of the cave where the students read and write made a deep impression on me.

Through out the commotion of my visit, the principal was not introduced nor the teachers gave me their names.? Maybe they assumed the village official or the county official will take care of it.

After taking a few photos I asked what time will the classes end and if the children can come out.? Upon hearing that, one teacher immediately banged on a piece of steel pipe as the bell and all the kids rushed out to line up according to classes.? There were four groups from the three rooms and all standing very stiff as if in review.? In order to bring some smile to their faces and close up shots, I suggested that the students rushed to me by the flag pole at the middle of the yard as my assistant took the pictures.? Teacher Li also took many shots with his camcorder the whole time.? I asked him if its possible to upload to the computer and send to us.

The sun was setting fast and thinking about the long trip home, we waved good bye to the children and the teachers.

Ten minutes away from the school, we stopped to look at the proposed site for the new school.? Its a gentle slope hill top with a power line running across.? There were holes dug and I was told that the village just harvested the potato.? Its a very large area as shown in the photos that I took scanning across the field.

The Return Trip

During the trip back to the village, I was sitting in the car with Teacher Li, Bureau Chief Pai and Party Sec. Li.? There were small talks.? Nothing serious.? Please take note that Teacher Li has been extremely quiet the whole trip.? Back at the village, its dark already and yes, there was the obligatory meal.? But there was no free lunch.? After we were offered hot water and towel to wash off the dirt, I was presented with a brush and rice paper to "write a title" as a very traditional gesture.? I tried to excuse myself that I have not touched a brush for decades and don't know much Chinese characters, but was not let off the hook so easy.? So I reluctantly wrote " lets fight for better education" and signed my name.? Now I just remembered that I forgot to write China Tomorrow Education Foundation.

Then we were herded into the only eating place in the village and enjoyed a hot lamb soup with "cat's ear" noodle.Turned out that the village chief is the owner and he served us without joining us.

We bit farewell at about six PM and after five hours of bumpy ride, we were back at yin Chuen.

Summary

No question that the school needs a new facility.No doubt the officials need a new school to show off.The bottom line for CTEF to consider is does it worthwhile to build above average school in such a location where quality teachers are hard to find and stay to teach.

Also disturbing is the fact that the officials located the new school to replace acres of much needed farm land.Even with electricity available, using it will be very costly. I was told that rural power usage cost a lot more than towns and cities.

Then the people I met did not impress me.For one, none of them gave me a business card nor write out their name and title.Regardless of I didn't put up an official act toward them, its just common sense to treat visitor with some respect, particular one that can bring improvement to the village and the county's school system.

If we and CHIME decided to proceed with this school, we shall request a reduced scope to meet a more realistic conditions.

Then there are the paper works. They told me if construction drawings are needed as part of our documents, then it will cost more.On top of that, we have to solve the "signed-off" procedure of any new public building in China.We have been lucky with Wenshan County's schools because our contact happens to be the Bureau Chief of the District.? But can we trust Pai and Li will not caused "surprises" - such as " by the way, the budget is short at the end and needs such a such dollar to finish off to get signed-off".

Lets discuss and come up with a compromised scope if we decided to proceed.