(XINHUA)

Zuo Xiangping, a teacher in a remote and poverty-stricken village in southwest China's Guizhou Province, was selected as one of the country's 10 model teachers of 2011 on September 10, 2011, China's 27th Teachers' Day.

Zuo, 52, has been a teacher for 38 years, and has taught more than 12,800 students over the course of his career. At 14, Zuo became a volunteer teacher in order to help wipe out illiteracy in his village. At 16, he qualified as a teacher in his hometown and has been working in schools ever since.

Over the past three decades, Zuo refused opportunities to transfer to more comfortable careers, due to his dedication to his profession. He is now the principal and a chemistry teacher at a middle school in a village in Guizhou Province.