Do you know what family instructions are? They are common beliefs(信仰)that family members follow. In ancient China, people passed down their family instructions from generation to generation.

Some schools in Zhejiang are encouraging students to learn more about their own family instructions. At Hangzhou Gongyi Middle School and Hangzhou Xuejun High School, it was part of students’ winter vacation homework to learn about their family instructions.

Meng Yaohan, 16, from Hangzhou Xuejun High School, looked at her family instructions. One of them is “Don’t take the wrong way”, a piece of advice that has been passed down for 100 years. Her father told her how her grandfather stuck to his “right way”—to become an engineer.“It encouraged me to pursue what I love,” she said.

Shen Duanjie,14,from Hangzhou Gongyi Middle School, has got good from his family instructions—“democratic”(民主的) and “equal”. In his own words, they have helped him get along with his parents.

The school has also published(出版) books about two classic collections of family instructions—The Family Instructions of Zhu Xi and Family Instructions of Yan Clan. The books include dialogues and pictures drawn by students.

Gong Zhenyue, 14, drew pictures for one of the instructions in Family Instructions of Yan Clan. She was impressed(留下深刻印象) by the instruction, which says that parents should not only love their children, but also educate them. “It made me understand my parents’ strictness with me,” she said. She made it her own family instruction.

As a volunteer teacher, I traveled a long way to a small village school in Guangxi. On my way there, I thought about everything that I might meet. However, my heart was down when I arrived there. It wasn’t what I expected. It didn’t look like a school at all! There were only three rooms, one for Grades 1, 2 and 3, and another for Grades 4, 5 and 6. The third one was for me.

The children welcomed me warmly on my first day. They asked me a lot of questions, and I told them stories about myself. The next day, I gave them a test to find out their levels (水平). To my surprise, though the test was very easy, over half of the students failed (不及格). But I knew they all wanted to learn new things and they needed me.

Now I am busy preparing lessons for them every night. I can see that they are doing better and better with my help. I have worked in Guangxi for a year now. I’m very happy here. It is also useful for me to have such an experience. I love the small village and the children. In fact, I would like to go on working here.