FUJIAN PROVINCE, CHINA – A little community in China is celebrating an amazing accomplishment that has given them the designation “PhD Village.” Pengdao Village in Fujian province has sent 33 people to some of the best schools in the world, such as Tsinghua University in China, Cambridge University in Britain, and Cornell University in the United States.
When a video of the village’s latest scholarship ceremony went viral on Chinese social media, it brought national attention to the village’s academic history. The Guo Family Education Fund put on the celebration at the ancestral hall of the Guo family, which is the most powerful family in the area. This year’s ceremony celebrated one new PhD candidate, 15 master’s students, and 46 undergraduate students, all of whom are members of the Guo clan.
The pupils wore red sashes that said “the glory of our ancestral clan” throughout the ritual. They honored their ancestors by presenting incense and bowing in front of memorial plaques. The education fund gave out 217,000 yuan (US$30,000) in rewards, with the highest scholarship being 8,000 yuan.
The village’s concentration on education is a direct result of the problems it has had in the past. People who lived there used to have a hard time making ends meet because it was in a mountainous area with little farming. They saw going to school as a way to get out of poverty and make their lives better. Guo Dongyu, the head of the Guo Family Education Fund, said that this legacy of valuing education and discipline has been passed down through the years.
The village has draped scarlet scrolls with the names and alma maters of its doctoral graduates on a prominent edifice to honor their accomplishments. This public display makes people proud and inspires younger generations in a big way. Guo Dongyu said that the prizes are not just for doing well in school; they are also meant to encourage students to “cherish our country and hometown, do good deeds, and work hard.”
People are praising the narrative of Pengdao Village as proof of how education can change lives and how important it is for a community to be dedicated to academic success.