In 1953, traveling from the city to Yiyuan Mountain, Nanjing and Yiyuan had a significant lifestyle difference. During his studies, Li Zhenhua often heard teachers recounting the revolutionary stories of Yimeng Sister-in-law and the Yimeng Six Sisters. At that time, he secretly made up his mind to contribute to the people and society.

The country was calling on young people to "go to the toughest revolutionary places, to the most needed places of the motherland." Influenced by the Yimeng Old Area spirit, the 17-year-old Li Zhenhua responded to the call, leaving the gates of Nanjing Normal School and heading to support the remote and impoverished Yimeng Old Area.

There was a twist in entering Yiyuan. Because he was from the city and quite young, the authorities were concerned whether Li Zhenhua could adapt to the harsh conditions and planned to assign him to Weifang. However, "in youthful determination," Li Zhenhua pointed at the map, mentioning the most mountainous, rugged Yiyuan Mountain, specifically choosing to teach at Hanwang Primary School. Li Zhenhua told reporters:

"Upon arriving at Hanwang Village, I found the place was so poor that they couldn’t even find a whole tile, nor was there a square meter of earthen ground."

After staying in the county town for a day, on the second day, Li Zhenhua set off with his luggage for the 110 li distant Hanwang Village. There were no roads then, and no cars, forcing one to climb over hills. He traveled for a full day until utterly exhausted. On the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, when Li Zhenhua finally reached Hanwang, the village’s old secretary led the entire village to the entrance to welcome him.

Entering a dilapidated temple converted into a classroom, Li Zhenhua was dumbfounded. The windows had no glass, the doors were half fallen off, and it was drafty and chilly. The floor was scattered with small stones. "The village is so poor that stones are used as desks, and smaller stones as stools," sighed the old secretary. He mentioned that for six months, without a teacher, the students had had no classes. Thus, the next day, when classes began, the students were eager. As the sun barely peeked over the mountains, 38 students were already seated in the room, the oldest with three children of their own, and the youngest a mere 7 years old. Villagers encircled the classroom windows.

To support, Li Zhenhua’s parents specially made him a Sun Yat-sen style suit. Villagers, unfamiliar with fabric woven by machines, immediately assumed Li Zhenhua was a foreigner. Anxiously, he gathered the courage to start teaching, but his Southern dialect elicited laughter and comments. The teaching attempt failed, leaving Li Zhenhua disheartened. At night, lying in a sparse room, he’d hear the haunting howl of wolves, filling him with homesickness, his tears silently falling. This was the first time far away from home. At times, he’d doze off and dream of being with the elderly at home. Awakening, he found himself alone.

"Thinking back now, I don’t even know how I got through it."

Amidst his sorrow, Li Zhenhua was awakened by villagers bringing him food. It was sweet potato pancakes mixed with leaves and bran, looking like cowhide in color. As he curiously examined the "delicacy," it was nothing inside when he unwrapped it. Only after taking a bite did he realize this was indeed the meal.

Li Zhenhua found swallowing extremely difficult; after dipping it into the somewhat bitter bean soup, he barely managed to finish one pancake. "Although after one I claimed I was full, deep down I wished there was more to eat." At that time, Li Zhenhua felt his heart was pricked by needles, uncertain of how to tackle the following classes, nor how to swallow the blackish sweet potato pancakes and bran-stuffed cornbread he had never seen before.

Li Zhenhua with the children (provided by the interviewee)

Never stepping back towards returning to the city

Dreams and reality are like twin sisters; realizing dreams requires countless tests. Without spiritual support, the best dreams might not materialize.

Facing language and life challenges, the passionate Li Zhenhua, who went to this impoverished mountain area, resolved silently: "This place can be stayed in; even for a day, it can be stayed."

Initially entering the Yimeng Mountain Area, Li Zhenhua hadn’t considered staying for life. At that time, he thought about returning in three to five years. If he ever returned and was questioned, Li Zhenhua felt uncomfortable. "I had thought of a compromise; if I could stay for five days, I’d stay for three, and an extra day meant less teasing upon returning."

In half a year, out of more than 40 alumni who went to support Yiyuan, 37 gradually returned, yet Li Zhenhua became increasingly reluctant to leave the Yimeng Mountain Area. When leaving the village, in the heartwarming crowd, Li Zhenhua noticed one youth with a frail figure caught in his mind. Returning, he brought an old spinning wheel back home. Using the spinning wheel, he spun cotton fiber into thread and wove them into cloth using a wooden loom, making cotton-padded clothes, cotton trousers, and even socks, stuffing straw and cattail into shoes for warmth.

"When delivering these items, tears welled up. For it felt like I’d seen my elders."

Recalling the knowledge of Li Zhenhua’s pancake ordeal, villagers knew they were eating bran and veggies but still gave him the best food. If an old hen laid an egg, which could originally be exchanged for firewood and salt, the villagers would slip it into his bag.

"Each time receiving an egg, warmed by the body’s heat, my heart melted inexplicably."

"It’s a cultural support mission. I can hold on."

In the Menglianggu Campaign, every effort was for revolution. "Can you be afraid of this little hardship when a family sacrifices its dearest for the cause?" The spirit of the Yimeng God and the simple villagers transformed Li Zhenhua; he couldn’t step back towards returning, knowing the path he had taken was the right one.

Dedicated wholeheartedly to students

Li Zhenhua was determined to use knowledge to change the face of poverty-stricken areas. Hence, for 68 years, he has persisted in one thing: studying diligently. Since then, he has taught during the day and walked five to six li in the evening to give students additional lessons. To improve teaching conditions, he used baskets, old newspapers to make globes, drew meridians and parallels to demonstrate; he showed students where the Atlantic, Pacific, Europe, and Asia were during geography lessons. Using wood scraps, tin, and ping-pong balls, he made solar and lunar eclipse models.

Hanwang Primary School was located deep in the mountains. Sometimes, if a student suddenly got sick, Li Zhenhua would carry the student over the mountain to seek medical treatment. When the river rose, he waited on the banks early, carrying each student across on his back to school and back to the other side after class.

With wholehearted dedication, students’ achievements soared. In 1955, the high school enrollment rate across Yiyuan County was 10:1, but among the 8 students Li Zhenhua taught, all advanced to middle school, creating a sensation across the county.

In 1982, Li Zhenhua was transferred to work in Yiyuan County. It was in a newly established special school with students who had failed entrance exams to middle schools county-wide. In such a context, Li Zhenhua proposed a slogan—"Dedicated entirely to students," ensuring teachers put all their effort into students. Among the first batch of students, Liu Yang (a pseudonym) was particularly naughty, familiar to police in the area for causing trouble. During one class, Li Zhenhua found Liu Yang had a severe cold, immediately returning home to cook him a bowl of egg noodles, moving the student to tears; he never misbehaved again and eventually passed the college entrance exam.

Who would have thought that the 108 students with an average score of 28.6 points, within three years, had 78 entering key high schools, and 26 entering prestigious universities, shaking the entire society. Instantly, the county renamed Chengguan Second Middle School to Yiyuan County Experimental Middle School. Since then, the Experimental Middle School has been the best in Yiyuan.

Back then, one could only fill in three college options, and under Li Zhenhua’s influence, 60 to 70 percent of the students chose normal schools and ultimately became famous teachers.

10,000 years after extinction, scientists are "resurrecting" mammoths

This "resurrection" plan is not to recreate an authentic mammoth but to produce embryos carrying mammoth DNA, creating a hybrid offspring between an elephant and a mammoth. In an interview, Church elucidated: "Our goal is to create a cold-resistant elephant resembling the mammoth in appearance and behavior. We don’t aim to deceive but want an animal functionally equivalent to the mammoth—capable of thriving in conditions of minus 40℃, doing all things elephants and mammoths do, particularly knocking down trees."

By comparing the genomes extracted from frozen mammoths and Asian elephants, researchers have identified specific genes responsible for mammoth hair, insulating fat layers, and other adaptations to the cold climate. Subsequently, they’ve extracted skin cells from Asian elephants and are working on editing these cells into pluripotent stem cells that carry mammoth DNA.

Eventually, these embryos will be delivered either through surrogate mother elephants or artificial wombs. Colossal aims to expedite breeding a substantial mammoth herd via developing artificial wombs. If everything goes smoothly, researchers anticipate the birth of the first batch of calves within six years.

Steps to "resurrecting" mammoths graphical depiction

This project aims to help in protecting Asian elephants by imparting them with certain traits allowing them to thrive in regions dubbed "Pleistocene Park."

[It’s said that Uncle Wang next door, after subscribing to the authentic version, no longer suffers from back and leg pain, has robust arms, and can effortlessly jump five flights of stairs, alternating days finding an eighteen-year-old girlfriend.]