Winning hearts

One such intern was Miao Ruixue, a physics major from SNNU. During her 2025 internship at Lhasa Beijing Experimental Middle School — a high school built in 1998 as part of an aid project funded by the Beijing municipal government — she initially struggled to connect with her students.

The toughest part was to remember the names of her 50 Tibetan students, which she managed to do in a month.

To help students better understand physics, she switched to local references — the running speed of a yak, the boiling point of butter tea — and crafted simple teaching tools from everyday materials.

Her toughest moment came when her mentor was away and classroom discipline collapsed — students fought, even smoked in the bathroom. After losing her temper, she was surrounded by apologetic pupils. "Teacher, we're sorry," they said. That night, she realized education was not a one-way transmission but a "resonance between hearts".

At her farewell, students surprised her with a classroom party, khata scarves, and songs. With tears in her throat, she told them: "Study hard. I'll come back to visit you."

Yang Pengxin, an art major from SNNU, arrived at Ngari Senior High School in 2023. His first lessons fell flat until a local teacher advised him to incorporate Tibetan culture.

He learned to make traditional masks from cardboard, painting them with vivid patterns. "When I showed the mask, the students went wild," he said.

One girl, Drolkar, later presented him with a drawing of the Potala Palace using techniques he taught. "I want to be an art teacher and paint my hometown," she told him.

For Yang, the experience was transformative. "In Xizang, teachers don't just teach — they accompany children with genuine heart," he said.