Wang Yongqing and Sun Rongxia – who cares About a few new-frosted hairs?

Role Models

Professor Wang Yongqing (born 1962) and his wife Professor Sun Rongxia (born 1960) are dedicated members of the Communist Party of China. Prior to retirement, they both served as faculty members at the School of Electronic and Information Engineering, Hebei University.In response to the Ministry of Education's "University Silver-Age Faculty Support Western China Plan ," the couple Wang and Sun traveled 2238 kilometers from Baoding, Hebei province, to teach at Xichang University in Liangshan, Sichuan province, and have been doing so for three years now. Their exemplary deeds in volunteer teaching have been reported by multiple media outlets, and they were listed on the "Role Models of the New Era · Hebei mensch" list for January-March 2025.

Who Cares About New-frosted Hairs?

Zhai Yingqin

The Challenge

March 11, 2022, was a special day for Wang Yongqing and Sun Rongxia. The air in the conference room of the School of Electronic and Information Engineering at Hebei University was filled with the sadness of parting. They were saying goodbye to their familiar work and colleagues, heading to a completely unfamiliar place over 2000 kilometers away to start a new chapter in their lives.

"Professor Wang, do you think you can adapt to life at a place like Xichang University in Liangshan?" someone quietly asked Wang Yongqing.

"Professor Sun, I really don't want to say goodbye to you! Now we'll be living so far apart that it will be hard to see each other," a colleague said, holding Sun Rongxia's hand with tears in her eyes.

Having accompanied and supported each other through many years of trials, Wang and Sun had dedicated the most precious age of their lives to the lectern and the laboratory, and to successive generations of young students. Now in their sixties, they firmly packed their bags to embark on a new chapter. One can only imagine how reluctant their former leaders, colleagues, and friends felt at their departure.

The college specially held a farewell party. At the party, Wang and Sun stated that their volunteer teaching at Xichang University represented not just themselves, but their college and university. They would be strict with themselves and carry out the teaching work with a spirit of seeking truth, being pragmatic, and having the courage to pioneer.

With lingering heat, I still strive,

The old steed won't idle his time.

The ancient plum asks nothing from itself,

But with red bloom warms human clime.

The college presented this poem to Wang and Sun.

After half a year of preparation, at 11 a.m. on October 15, 2022, after participating in a project review for a company, Wang Yongqing and his wife Sun Rongxia set off directly from the review site, driving to Xichang University. 2238 kilometers – the distance from Baoding city, Hebei province, to their volunteer teaching point in Liangshan, Sichuan province. When they entered Liangshan Prefecture on the G5 Ya-Xi Expressway, their hearts were filled with joy and excitement. After two and a half days of travel, they finally arrived at the Anning Campus of Xichang University , located in Mapingba, Anning Town, northern suburbs of Xichang City, on the evening of October 17. At that moment, Zhong Qianchuan, Office Director of the School of Information Technology, was waiting for them at the gate.

The evening glow reddened the mountains and the sky above Xichang University . It was a beautiful place. Looking around, abundant vegetation grows in high mountains and deep valleys.In the Xichang University campus,egrets were returning to their nests , and red-bellied squirrels were jumping happily in the trees... Xichang was welcoming them with its unique beauty.

But Wang Yongqing soon experienced discomfort.

Due to Xichang's high altitude, the oxygen content in the air is only 85% of that on the North China Plain, and the boiling point of water is only 95 degrees Celsius. Wang Yongqing's gums are starting to swell and pain, his nose often bleeds, and he has developed boils all on his body. This is a manifestation of not adapting to the local conditions. He was worried about himself and said to his wife, "You adapt much better than I do — aside from getting out of breath when walking. I really hope I don’t hold you back or end up being the one who bails!"

Wang had entertained the idea of volunteer teaching when he was young. Unexpectedly, this idea like a seed with tenacious vitality, grew robustly in his silver-haired years.

In February 2020, the Ministry of Education issued the "Official Implementation Plan for the University Silver-Age Faculty Support Western China Program." The plan proposed selecting outstanding retired university teachers to support teaching and research in western universities, accelerating the effort to shore up the weaknesses in higher education in western China. In 2021, Hebei University was included in the list of supporting universities, providing counterpart support to Xichang University located in the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan.

Not just different climates, dietary habits, and language barriers also bring obstacles to daily life. The locals would struggle to communicate in Sichuan-accented Mandarin, while they strained their ears to understand — sometimes resorting to body language, yet still catching only half of what was meant. Such was their social reality during those early days in Xichang.

When I interviewed Wang Yongqing, he told me: "Back then, it was 'beautiful mountains, beautiful waters, but profound loneliness.' I was really afraid I wouldn't be able to persevere, especially physically. I didn't want to be a deserter, afraid of losing face, afraid of disgracing Hebei University, and disgracing the 'Silver-Aged Teachers' team."

Sowing Seeds

Enduring the pain and discomfort, Wang Yongqing ultimately persevered.

Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture is situated in the transitional zone between the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. Xichang City, where Xichang University is located, has an average altitude of over 1500 meters. As a university co-established by the Ministry of Education, the State Ethnic Affairs Commission, and Sichuan Province, Xichang University is an important base for cultivating high-quality application-oriented talents serving the regional economy and local development personnel for the Liangshan Yi area. However, due to natural environmental and historical factors, the univerity's teaching staff is relatively weak.

During his teaching career at Hebei University, besides undergraduate teaching, Wang Yongqing supervised 60 master's students and held positions such as Vice Dean, Supervisor, and Discipline Head. He also served as a technical consultant and independent director for several electronics industry enterprises, and acted as a reviewer, evaluator, and inspector for numerous national, provincial, and municipal major science and technology project approvals and assessments. He is a "dual-qualified" teacher (holding both professor and senior engineer titles) rich in both teaching and engineering practical experience.

When he first arrived at Xichang University, teaching the course "Principle and Application of Sensors," Wang Yongqing found that the textbook used was not a nationally planned textbook. He proposed switching to a "National Planning Textbook for General Higher Education Undergraduate in 12th Five-Year " and rewrote the teaching syllabus based on the characteristics of Xichang University students and the experimental conditions available. Wang felt that completely copying Hebei University's teaching methods and requirements wouldn't work; they needed to tailor the course outline to the actual situation, seeking truth from facts, and align it with local realities.

At Xichang University, he paid particular attention to classroom effectiveness. When teaching students, he told them that for specific engineering projects, the precision of a sensor isn't necessarily higher the better, it just needs to suit the project's requirements. "Adequate with a slight margin" is the best, just like dating with girls – what suits you is best. The students laughed heartily upon hearing this and remembered this viewpoint from then on.

Wang Yongqing's classes sparked the students' interest. When it was time for his class, some students would place their books in the classroom the night before to secure seats. To identify problems in his teaching, in the final class of the course, Wang Yongqing asked students to write down their learning experiences, feelings, and suggestions, anonymously or by name.

I think professor Wang's class captivating, he makes the originally complex and hard-to-understand sensors simple and easy to comprehend. The humorous and witty teaching style makes the classroom teaching interesting; I don't feel sleepy anymore.

The professor Wang’s class are excellent and vivid which providing many engineering case studies for us. It also piqued my curiosity about sensors, even making me want to build one myself.

These are anonymous comments left for Wang Yongqing by students. After coming to Xichang University , he had accumulated 7 notebooks, filled with students' classroom feedback and evaluations. Wang is inherently warm-hearted.He has participated in public welfare volunteer activities continuously for over twenty years. In Xichang, he cared for the students as if they were his own children. Once he encountered a student with a fever on campus, saying nothing he drive this student to the Panzhihua Steel Xichang Hospital for treatment, five or six kilometers away.

Kindness begets kindness. Wang was also deeply loved by the students. In December 2023, the Xichang University Working Committee for Caring for the Next Generation awarded Wang Yongqing the "Award for Caring for the Youth" honorary certificate.

Sun Rongxia primarily engaged in experimental teaching, supervised 40 master's students, and before working at the university, she have held the position of Chief Engineer in an enterprise. Currently, she also serves as the Secretary of the temporary Party branch for the Silver-Aged volunteer teachers at Xichang University .

To enhance students' practical skills, Sun Rongxia introduced comprehensive course-design experiments. She guided students in building sensors and creating physical circuits for alcohol detection, temperature monitoring, pressure sensing, and water level detection... Inspired by her approach, one student, after completing their own project, voluntarily became a classroom assistant—helping with registrations, assisting peers with soldering, wiring, testing, and troubleshooting. Immersed in experimentation, the students delighted in the process of exploration. When a circuit finally worked, the lab erupted into cheers—only then did they realize they had missed lunch.

To Sun, igniting students’ hope for the future and curiosity for life was a deeply rewarding experience. To further engage them, she even purchased electronic components out of her own pocket so students could build small functional devices. In one session, she taught them to create an electronic product simulating a “birthday candle.” After assembling the circuit and testing it, students watched as a lighter’s flame approached the thermal sensor, causing an LED to light up like a real candle. “It’s amazing!” one exclaimed. “Go on—make a wish!” Sun encouraged. As they blew toward the “candle,” the sensor detected the airflow and the LED went out. The experiment succeeded. “What did you wish for?” “How about you?” They beamed as if they had genuinely celebrated a birthday.

“Someday, when these students go for job interviews,” Sun noted, “if employers ask what they’ve made, they’ll have real projects to describe. That will be a real advantage.”

Like Wang, Sun has quietly invested in her students’ growth. Beyond classroom teaching, they have delivered special lectures on topics such as “Graduate School vs. Employment,” “Thesis Writing Standards,” and “Cultivating Innovative Talent and Invention Techniques.” When scheduling conflicts arose due to limited faculty, they voluntarily took on courses like “Introduction to Electronic Science and Technology,” “National Security Education,” and “Career Planning for College Students.”

Building Bridges

Wang Yongqing recognized that Xichang University had a need for experimental courses in electronic science and technology, while Hebei University was seeking to extend the reach of its National Virtual Simulation Experimental Teaching Center for Photovoltaic Technology. Acting as a bridge, Wang facilitated discussions between the two institutions, leading to the launch of a cross-university virtual simulation teaching initiative—enabling resource sharing and mutual enrichment.

In Xichang, both in work and daily life, the college leadership and colleagues offered Wang and Sun tremendous support. Beyond teaching, they took on another vital role: mentoring young faculty—sharing experience in teaching and research, helping analyze and resolve work challenges, and guiding them through teaching competitions, educational reform proposals, and applications for National Natural Science Foundation grants. They fully embraced the role of passing on knowledge, offering support, and nurturing the next generation of educators.

On holidays, they often ventured beyond campus into the heart of the Daliang Mountains to witness how poverty alleviation initiatives had transformed Yi villages. They visited more than ten counties—including Butuo, Zhaojue, Puge, Muli, and Mianning—and numerous Yi communities like Boshawahei, Yanmaidi, Huopu, Gatuo, Agaluogu, Ganya, and Yihai. Their footprints also covered the Baihetan Hydropower Station, the Huili Meeting Site, the Lizhou Conference Site, the Yi Sea Alliance Memorial Hall, and the Liangshan Yi Slave Society Museum. Along the way, they picked up simple Yi phrases like “Zyx kep hxop” (吉祥如意), “Kax bbop sso” (谢谢), “O jjip nrop” (好得很), and “Kux sse nrop” (彝族年好).

From strangers to familiar faces, from guests to part of the community, Wang and Sun have become woven into the fabric of Liangshan and Xichang.

Wang once told his wife that after retiring, he would take her to see the great rivers and mountains of the country—to chase the poetry and dreamland in their hearts. Now, his hair silver, he smiles and says to her, “This teaching journey is our poetry and dreamland.”

When their first year ended, Wang and Sun renewed for another. The second year passed, and they signed on again. By the summer of 2025, they will have completed three academic years of teaching. Both have expressed that as long as the work is needed and their health allows, they are willing to stay in Daliangshan—to remain right where they are needed.