Looking back at my childhood history, I feel I’m pretty determined. Grandma says my parents got a divorce when I was 3 years old; my mother remarried and moved to Nanjing, and my father moved back to his hometown and found another woman too, so I moved in with grandpa and grandma. Ever since I can remember, grandpa has tried to borrow money from every source possible to fund my education, and because I live in a poor area in the mountains, the school children isolate me, with loneliness as my only companion.

I really love to read and study, and in combination with working hard I achieved excellent marks and in the 3rd grade became the class monitor and started getting along with my classmates. During that time my 2nd uncle came back from afar and exemplified he had matured. Grandpa and Uncle would go out to work, our financial situation started to improve for a bit, but it did not last. Only after a few months, 2nd uncle’s deviousness showed. He started drinking all day and spent all the money we had saved up. Grandpa was furious after he found out, and they started arguing all the time. Six years later, Grandpa became ill and passed away. I didn’t even have a chance to repay his kindness and he passed, which affected me tremendously. 2nd Uncle only continued to spend frivolously on food and drink without looking for work.

When 7th grade began, to alleviate family burdens I started working for another relative for a month. Mostly I helped assist the architect with any errands, carry heavy items, mixing cement, etc… after just a few days of work I felt accomplished, although I work slow I got the job done. My whole body had no energy and my back and waist were so sore. I understood that the working class’s life is tough; I don’t want to do this for the rest of my life, and the only way out of this line of work is to study hard in school.