Rural primary school in SW China’s Yunnan rewards excellent students with little piggies

A rural primary school in southwest China’s Yunnan Province has rewarded 20 students with the best academic performance at the end of the winter semester by giving each of them a piglet.

The school hands out piggies to the students’ parents. (Photo/yunnan.cn)

“In previous years, we awarded our outstanding students with school supplies. This year, some kindhearted personnel from Shanghai contacted us, saying they wanted to do something for the school. Besides, we thought that the rewards for this semester should be something associated with improving the livelihoods of the students’ families,” said Hou Changliang, a teacher from the primary school in Yiliang county, Zhaotong city, explaining why they had chosen the little piggies as a reward for the students.

“The children’s parents were very happy. These rewards have been earned by their kids through their hard work at school. This has a totally different meaning,” Hou expressed.

The 20 piglets, weighing in between 10 and 15 kilograms, were awarded to the students by drawing lots.

（Photo/yunnan.cn)

After Hou shared the video recording the award ceremony presentation on social media, the rewards aroused heated discussions about the creativity and goodwill the school had demonstrated, with some viewers of the video saying these piggies were a pragmatic kind of reward, while others exclaimed that when the piggies are raised big enough, the families could either sell them for extra money or slaughter them for their meat.

The primary school, called “Xiangyangping Primary School,” has only four grades, with the total number of students being only 65. Hou and his wife volunteered to teach at the school four and a half years ago.

Hou Changliang and his wife Lei Yudan take a photo with their students.（Photo/yunnan.cn)

The wedding photo of Hou Changliang and Lei Yudan taken at the school. (Photo/yunnan.cn)