The story is based off of the true events of Principal Mrs. Zhang Gui Mei and her mission to establish the first free all-inclusive all girls high school in the poor mountainous county of Hua Ping in Yunnan Province in 2008. In a sea of dramas that portray the extravagance, wealth, and technology of the major cities of Shanghai and Beijing, this drama brings us to the poor mountains of Yunnan (southwest China). In the 21st century, there are still people who are poor, uneducated, and have never left the mountains. For these families, young girls are viewed as chattel, to be sold off as a wives or forced to work, so that the money can be used to send the boys to school or support the family instead. There was no future for these girls. The teacher Zhang Gui Mei refused to accept this reality and fought tooth and nail to establish a safe and free school for girls to attain an education because college was the only way out of the mountains for these girls.

This is my favorite drama of the year. There’s just so much to enjoy about this drama (which I’ll dive into below) but perhaps most importantly, it showcased a woman (middle-age to boot) who strove to do something because she absolutely believed in it. This isn’t one of those dramas where her primary motivating factor is still a man or that she achieved everything due to men. Sure, she had help from men, but she was still the primary driving force. When we talk about “female empowerment”, Zhang Gui Mei is the shining example. 

Song Jia does an excellent job depicting Zhang Gui Mei. I suspect it helps that they’re both from the same province. Song Jia portrays a determined, loving, yet stubborn woman who will not stop until she is able to provide the best for her students. We rarely get middle aged women in juicy dramas like this for a woman to share such a positive message but we have this drama exactly because there’s a living historical figure still championing the same mission she’s had for her whole life. 

The drama moves at a brisk pace so that it doesn’t feel bloated, allows many characters to shine, and tells a powerful story. In conclusion, more dramas should be like this.

I’ve been seeing buzz gradually grow for this drama on social media and this really truly is a drama that grew popularity based on this word of mouth. With all this buzz, I had my eye on it and basically binged all 23 episodes in 3 days. This became a ratings hit on CCTV, breaking the 2% barrier and topping the ratings for live TV. This drama now boasts a whopping 9.0 on Douban. This drama is primed for awards next year and I would be shocked if it Song Jia doesn’t win something for Best Actress. 

What I liked – I’m going to try to keep this as spoiler free as possible

• There’s no true antagonist. It’s a fight against the tradition: Zhang Gui Mei, the teachers, and the girls aren’t fighting against anyone in particular, but the result of thousands of years of patriarchal culture, poverty, and superstitions against women. It is such a TOUGH battle. The families in the mountains still prefer boys to girls and will always sacrifice the girl’s future if it meant protecting the boy’s future. These girls knew of nothing different and accepted that there was nothing more in life besides bearing children and working on the farm. Zhang Gui Mei wanted to change these girls lives through education. If these girls could graduate college and work at well paying jobs, this would create a ripple effect for other families to send their girls to school and break this vicious cycle. This drama showed us just how hard it was to break this cycle. These families often were too poor to send anyone to school, lived too far for children to attend school, or if there was money, would use it on the boy instead. I was naive to discover that these events occurred as recently as 2008 but not shocked. Despite the outstanding strides China has made in the past century, old habits die hard and it was heartbreaking to watch the girls who were discarded.
• Realistic struggles and strength for all involved: I’ll admit, I cried every other episode because of how realistic the struggles were for each character and the fortitude they all showed to make this school a success. The students chose to attend school even though they might have had nothing, started with an elementary school education, or families who didn’t believe in education for girls. Each had a different backstory, yet they still chose to attend school because they believed in a better future if they could perform well on their high school Gao Kao exam. The teachers had to teach these students who didn’t have a good foundation to become college ready, were poorly paid, and do literally everything else in the school. Some couldn’t make it but we understood their position. Principal Zhang Gui Mei had to run the school, obtain funding, and produce results. Even the government officials had their hands tied with how to obtain funding or approval for this school. All the odds were stacked against them but they worked together to make their scrappy school a success.  

• Positivity, generosity, and humor: I think the drama captures the essence of Zhang Gui Mei, which is to have a positive outlook mixed in with a little humor. In interviews with the real Zhang Gui Mei, she’s revealed to be a funny woman who let’s out a few swear words here and there. That atmosphere permeates throughout the drama. Whether that is how Zhang Gui Mei interacts with her students, how the teachers interact with the students, or even how the students interact with each other, everyone is there rooting for everyone else to succeed. Sure, there are some dark moments but the drama never veers into self-pity or truly dark territory where it becomes a slog to watch. All of the characters, with a little encouragement, believe that there’s light at the end of the tunnel and will adamantly march forward to that light.

• Sisterhood: Since the drama involves a high school, there is inevitably competition. But none of the competition turns catty or toxic. Just when I think come relationships might sour, I get pleasantly surprised with the outcome. It’s never a competition on who has the saddest backstory or who has the best grades. Rather, this friendly competition spurs everyone to perform better. These young girls, who have come from nothing, all support each other and raise each other up to be the best versions of themselves. This is what sisterhood should be about. I also loved the portrayal that these are just teens too. They’re rash. They’re insecure. They’re curious. They’re nervous of the future. That’s every young girl! When one girl believes she’s in love, her dormmates have some hilarious reactions.
• Great Life Lessons: Sure, some of the life lessons here are a bit heavy handed, but nonetheless needed in the context of this drama.  For example, selling yourself for 30K at the age of 13 is not a good investment. Another example is time is the biggest factor against education but it’s well worth it. There’s one instance where a young man is taught a crucial lesson about real life that is a slap in the face of many romance dramas. In several of these instances, the teachers want to impart their wisdom but know that it’s better learned by the student through personal experience rather than from lecture
• Authenticity: The drama was filmed on location in Yunnan province, with many of the actors and actresses learning the local Yunnan dialects. I was pleasantly surprised to hear Nie Yuan chatting away in the dialect even though I know for a fact that he is not local. This extends to the actresses for the students and several teachers too. There’s similarities between the Sichuan dialects and the Yunnan dialects so I could understand most of it, but I’ll need a local Yunnan person to tell me how accurate these accents are, but at least they tried! The fact that these actors and actresses COULD act in a different dialect is extremely commendable compared to several actors who can’t even speak Mandarin properly. The cast also dressed age appropriately and had minimum make up. For once, I noticed that these young girls had pimples! My reaction was, finally! It wouldn’t make sense for young teenage girls to not have any acne on their faces. The drama doesn’t shy away at the abject poverty of the remote villages, nor does it hide from the rather poor amenities of the school. We are presented with a rather accurate portrayal of the situation. A poor school, in a poor county, trying its best for its poor students.

What Could Have Been Better

• Overtly Red Messaging: Honestly, I can’t fault the drama for incorporating this because apparently Zhang Gui Mei promoted a lot of these messages in her school. I just rolled my eyes at some scenes where teachers were pledging to the party, but that’s a very small nit in the grand scheme of things.

Stray Observations:

There were so many cameos of middle aged actors and actresses in this drama! From Ding Xiao Xiao’s parents, to every government official, I was like, oh hey! Glad to see you here.

The actress for Gu Yu, Ya Lan Xi, just looks SO young! She could totally pass for a 14 year old despite being 25 when she filmed it! The other student actresses are still in there early 20s and in college so they were all highly believable as young high school students. 

The true story of Zhang Gui Mei is just as impactful. She told her students to never look back to return to the mountains and contribute however they can. Many of her students are now doctors, policewomen, lawyers, and teachers, each giving back in their own way. Zhang Gui Mei now does not accept donations to her school but instead requests that donations be giving to the county.

Go ahead and watch this drama!

Cathy