Born in a village in Gansu province, Zhu Yanjun had never left his hometown in his early age. Some of his friends dropped out of middle school and worked in the city. Hearing about their exciting lives there, he did not go to high school and instead became a migrant worker.
For 30 years, Zhu had been a migrant worker in different cities. Although he only had a middle school education, his passion for reading never faded. The passion was inspired by his Chinese teacher in middle school who has published many articles in magazines.
"I also wanted to publish stories", he said to himself. So he started to read. No matter where he worked, he went to local bookstores regularly with a notebook in order to write down wonderful paragraphs and memorize them. In this way, he got to know the history, traditions and landscapes of different places. Over the years, he has read thousands of poems and can recite over 1000 of them. When reading poems from the Tang Dynasty and poems written by Chairman Mao Zedong, he appreciated the beauty of their language. He said, "One can get inspired to have a rich spiritual world and powerful mind from reading." Whenever he faces any challenge, he thinks of Chairman Mao's words: "Nothing in the world is difficult for one who sets his mind to it."
This year, he finally appeared in the Chinese Poetry Competition hosted by CCTV and won the second place, impressing the audience deeply with his good performance. The local government decided to hire him as a staff member at the cultural center. Although his income is less than before, this job gives him more time to explore poems. Besides, he has more opportunities to share his study experience with others and inspire more people around to explore the beauty of reading.
