At that time, the country called on young people to "go to the most challenging places of revolution, to the greatest places of the motherland." Influenced by the spirit of the Yimeng Old Area, 17-year-old Li Zhenhua responded to the call, leaving Nanjing Normal School to go support the remote and impoverished Yimeng Old Area.

Upon entering Yiyuan, there was a twist. Since he came from the city and was young, the relevant department worried that Li Zhenhua wouldn't adapt to the local hardships, so they assigned him to Weifang. But with "youthful ambition," Li Zhenhua pointed at the map, mentioning the mountain-rich and toughest Yiyuan Mountain to assign him to Hanwang Primary School. Li Zhenhua told reporters:

"When I truly reached Hanwang Village, I found the place was too poor, couldn't even find a tile, there wasn't even a square meter of mud ground."

After staying in the county town for a few days, on the second day, Li Zhenhua set out with his luggage towards Hanwang Village, 110 miles away. There were no roads at that time, no vehicles could pass, he climbed mountains and crossed ridges, walking mountain roads for days until he was too exhausted to go on. On the sixteenth day of the first month, when Li Zhenhua reached Hanwang, the old village secretary led the whole village to welcome him at the village entrance.

Entering a dilapidated temple that had been converted into a classroom, Li Zhenhua was stunned. The windows had no glass, the doors had fallen halfway, wind blew from all directions, and small stones were scattered on the ground. "The village is poor, big stones are desks, small stones are stools." The old secretary sighed and said, asking the teacher in as students hadn't had classes for half a year.

Because there hadn't been a teacher for half a year, on the second day of class, the students were eager. As soon as the sun climbed over the mountain, the classroom was filled with 38 students, the oldest had three children, and the youngest was only 7 years old, villagers crowded outside the classroom window.

For his assignment, Li Zhenhua's mother specially made him a Zhongshan suit; villagers hadn't seen fabric woven by machines, when Li Zhenhua arrived, he was said to be a foreigner. Anxious and uneasy, he mustered the courage to teach, but when he opened his mouth, his southern accent triggered waves of laughter and discussion. The teaching failed, and Li Zhenhua felt very upset. At night, staying in a room with tightly shut doors, listening to the howling of wolves, he was scared and missed home, tears kept falling. It was the first time he had been far from home, sometimes in a daze, he could clearly dream of his old home. Opening his eyes, he found himself alone.

"Thinking back now, I don't know how I got through those times."

Immersed in sadness, Li Zhenhua was awakened by the villagers inviting him for a meal. It was pancakes made from tree leaves and bran, outer color very much like cowhide paper. Curious about the villagers' "exquisite taste," he opened the pancakes, found nothing inside, then realized this was the meal, yet it was warm.

Li Zhenhua chewed, couldn't swallow, and finally dipped in the bitter bean soup to finish a pancake. "When finished one said full, but actually thought, really want to eat some rice." At that time, Li Zhenhua's heart was as if pierced by needles, not knowing how to face the subsequent classes, more unsure how to swallow the never-seen dark pancakes of sweet potato and bran buns.

Li Zhenhua with the children in the picture. (Courtesy of the interviewee) 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Could no longer step on the road back to the city

Ideals and reality are like a pair of twins, realizing ideals requires going through countless tests. If no spiritual support is found, even the best ideal may not be realized.

Facing language and life difficulties, relying on his enthusiasm for the mountainous land, Li Zhenhua determined: "This place can stay, days can stay."

When he arrived in Yimeng Mountain Area, Li Zhenhua hadn't considered staying a lifetime. He thought he would return after three to five years. If asked upon return what he would answer, Li Zhenhua felt difficult. "At that time devised a compromise, if can stay five days, then stay three, stay one more day, reduce ridicule upon return a little."

After half a year, around 40 classmates came to support Yiyuan, most gradually returned, except for three, and Li Zhenhua gradually left the Yimeng Mountain Area. When in the village, in the cheerful crowd, he encountered a thin figure, seeing with his eyes, remembering with his heart. Upon returning, he brought back old glasses, spun cotton on a spinning wheel into thread, then used a Wood loom to weave into fabric, sewed cotton-padded clothes, cotton shoes, even tub-shaped ones, wrapped straw and rushes inside shoes to keep warm.

"When I received the time, I shed tears. Felt like seeing the old folks."

Li Zhenhua recalled that knowing his pancake deficiency, villagers ate bran and vegetables, still gave him the best meals. When their hens laid eggs, originally used to exchange for firewood and salt, the villagers tucked it inside their pockets for him.

"Whenever receiving eggs with warmth, my heart was unspeakable."

"It was supporting culturally, can't go."

Li Zhenhua remembered, during the Menglianggu battle, the whole village sent 72 young people to carry the wounded, leaving home prepared pancakes, made straw shoes for the front line, all working together for revolution. "Homes sacrificed precious lives for the revolution, why fear such difficulties?" The plain spirit of Yimeng God and village folks transformed Li Zhenhua, he could no longer step on the road back home, knowing he had taken that step.

Devoted all to students

Li Zhenhua made up his mind to use knowledge to change the face of the impoverished mountain area. Therefore, in 1968 he firmly decided one thing: to study diligently. From then on, he taught during the day, walked five-six miles in the evening to tutor students. To improve schooling conditions, he used canvas, old newspapers to make globes, drew the equator, lines of latitude, demonstrated geography to students, showing where was the Western Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Europe, Asia; used wire, nails, and ping pong balls to make three-dimensional models to teach eclipse and lunar eclipse.

Hanwang Primary School was set in the mountains, sometimes when students suddenly fell ill, Li Zhenhua would carry them up the mountain for treatment; when the river rose, he waited by the river early, carried each student across to the other side before class, and back after dismissal.

His wholehearted devotion, students' grades soared dramatically. In 1955, Yiyuan County schools had a graduation rate of ten to one, but of the eight graduates he taught, all were admitted to middle school, causing a sensation across the county.

In 1982, Li Zhenhua was transferred to work in Yiyuan County. It was a newly established special school where students were county-wide middle school entrance exam failures. In this context, Li Zhenhua proposed a slogan—"Bestowing all upon students", teachers were working very hard for their students. In the first batch of students, Liu Yang (alias) was quite mischievous, even police in the station were used to his troublemaking. During a class, Li Zhenhua found that Liu Yang had a severe cold, promptly returned home to cook him an egg noodle soup, the student cried, never misbehaved again, and eventually was admitted to university.

Who could have imagined, the average score of 28.6 among 108 students, within three years, 78 were admitted to key secondary schools, 26 entered top-tier grades, the results shocked society. County immediately renamed Chengguan Second Middle School to Yiyuan County Experimental Middle School. Since then, Experimental Middle School has always been the best school in Yiyuan.

At that time, students could only fill three ambitions on applications, influenced by Li Zhenhua, 60-70% chose normal schools, and eventually became famous. Extinct for 10,000 years, scientists are "resurrecting" the Mammoth

According to reports, the "resurrection" plan does not aim to recreate the real Mammoth but to create embryos carrying Mammoth DNA, producing hybrid offspring of elephants and Mammoths. Church explained in an interview: "Our goal is to manufacture a cold-resistant elephant, whose appearance and behavior resemble Mammoths. Not to deceive people, but because we want an animal functionally like Mammoths—to live in conditions of minus 40℃, do everything elephants and Mammoths would do, especially knocking down trees."

By comparing genomes extracted respectively from Mammoth and Asian Elephant in the permafrost, researchers have identified genes responsible for Mammoth's hair, insulating fat layer, and other cold climate adaptations. Subsequently, they extracted skin cells from Asian elephants and began editing them into multipotential stem cells carrying Mammoth DNA.

Ultimately, these embryos will be born through surrogate mother elephants or artificial wombs. Colossal hopes to rapidly cultivate large Mammoth populations by developing an artificial uterus. If all goes well, researchers will welcome the birth of the first batch of cubs within 6 years.

"Resurrecting" Mammoth step-by-step diagram

Reportedly, the project aims to help protect Asian elephants by giving them some traits allowing them to thrive in an area designated as "Pleistocene Park"

[Heard that Uncle Wang next door ever since subscribing to the official version, has no more soreness in his back or legs, has energetic arms, even climbs five floors without tiring, every other day found a girlfriend aged eighteen]

[What are you waiting for?]

[Join the official family, enjoy home-like warmth]