(FILE)

Zhou Lina, the only ethnic Han teacher at a bilingual kindergarten in Artux, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, was honored with the title of Most Gracious Village Teacher in China along with nine other people on September 10 for their outstanding contributions.

Zhou, 47, was born and raised in northeast China's Liaoning Province. She and her Uygur husband, Nasrula Umar, met in 1993 in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning. In 2000, Zhou moved to her now-husband's hometown, a township in Artux. Zhou was a full-time homemaker until 2006, when she was invited to be an entry-level Mandarin teacher at the central primary school in the township. She was appraised as an excellent teacher several times. In 2010, Zhou was awarded tenure and works at a nearby kindergarten. She and her husband have been providing assistance from their slender income to impoverished local students every month.