Ma Wenzhong (1966-April 5, 2008) was born in Mayezhuang, Miaozhan Township, Changyuan County, Henan Province.
All five children in the family have "progressive muscular dystrophy" to varying degrees, but Ma Wenzhong is the most severely ill. He studied high school at home and volunteered to become a teacher. At first, he volunteered as a substitute teacher in the village primary school, but due to his physical disability, he spent a lot of time moving his body between school and home every day, even crawling, until he was completely unable to move. His condition worsened, forcing him to leave school again.
Ma Wenzhong thought about committing suicide, but he finally persisted with amazing perseverance. He decided to start a Hope Primary School at home, which catered to poor students and students who failed to pass the exam. Although the family is poor and disabled, the burden of the family rests entirely on his father, Ma Cunying. The whole family was opposed to the idea of ??building a school, but with the support of their father, who was also a teacher, the family overcame various difficulties. A year later, they built a small bungalow brick by brick, hoping that the primary school was finally built. .
Under the eyes of suspicion and ridicule, Ma Wenzhong gradually found 8 students. At that time, only three or four students in a class of forty or fifty students could be admitted to junior high school; however, six of the eight students in Ma Wenzhong's first class were admitted to junior high school, which caused a sensation in the countryside. The next year, 60 students were recruited.
One day, Ma Wenzhong published a friend recruitment notice in a youth magazine, and Gu Qingyu, a Bai girl from Mahekou Village, Mahekou Township, Sangzhi County, Zhangjiajie City, Hunan Province, met him. Gu Qingyu contracted the reservoir in her hometown and raised fish. After two years of operation, her family became the first batch of "10,000-yuan households" in the county. After more than a year of correspondence, Gu Qingyu admired Ma Wenzhong's courage in running a school despite difficulties. During the Spring Festival of 1988, Gu Qingyu took it upon herself to go north to the Central Plains without telling her parents to see the place that had fascinated her.
Seeing the poverty in the local area and the hardships of Ma Wenzhong’s family, coming from a wealthy hometown to a poor place is not something that ordinary people can bear. But Gu Qingyu decided to stay and help Ma Wenzhong run the school. Gu Qingyu married Ma Wenzhong, but the burden of the family fell on Gu Qingyu. She has to be a teacher, do farm work, and take care of Ma Wenzhong, who cannot take care of himself. Day after day, year after year, Gu Qingyu tenaciously overcame the difficulties.
On April 30, 2000, with the help of Shanghai Tzu Chi volunteers, the construction of the "Mayezhuang Hope Tzu Chi Primary School" began. The couple's teaching journey has reached a new starting point.
On April 5, 2008, Ma Wenzhong died of a heart attack at the age of 42.