Challenges

For all their efforts and their students' appreciation, the professors admitted they have had challenges.

Fu Peishan, another retired professor from Nankai's School of Marxism, said that he found the students were "quite attentive at listening, but less at communicating".

As a result, he worried whether they truly understood the lectures and worked to improve the situation.

Since he is good at calligraphy, Fu collected 2,000 ginkgo leaves and wrote messages like "Beautiful Kashgar" on them to give to the students.

"I told them I would give one to everyone who raised their hands to ask a question or comment, and to my delight, I have gifted 800 to date," he said.

Han Changli, an art professor at the School of Literature, had the same headache at the beginning.

He said that some students were unable to understand him because of the language barrier, so he decided to tutor them individually in painting. He also introduced Nankai's system of thesis evaluation and assessment in a bid to help improve teaching.

Han's wife, Li Chunxia, another retired professor from Nankai, joined him in Kashgar last year.

At first, she came just to cook for her husband, but when she learned the university was short of teachers, she volunteered to help tutor students on thesis writing.

This year, she officially registered as a member of the second Yinling team.

Retired chemistry professor Jiang Ping said that she has adopted new teaching methods since she came to Xinjiang, including using new class modules and repetition and stopping to allow students to have enough time to record the highlights.

"My aim is to get them to love the class," said Jiang, 65.

In June, the four professors were recognized as role models by Kashgar city, and they have decided to continue teaching, with Li Chunxia and another professor from the School of Mathematics joining their team.