A disabled woman who runs one of the firt private colleges in China

Hu Dabai runs a college from scratch

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Hu Dabai, a native of Zhengzhou, Henan Province, was born in 1943, and graduated from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Zhengzhou University. She founded Huanghe Science and Technology College, the first private college in China, and was chose as a deputy of the 10th National People's Congress, one of the third "Ten Outstanding Women" and one of the specialists who received the State Council special allowance.

Hu Dabai, founder of Huanghe Science and Technology College

White walls, simple floor tiles and furniture were what reporters saw when they entered Hu's home. The reporters were surprised that the president, the founder of the first private college in China, Huanghe Science and Technology College which covers an area of more than one thousand mu and accommodating over 20 thousand students, lives in such a humble house.

"I feel very good," 66-year-old Hu said with a smile. She has a pair of bright, piercing eyes, a smooth forehead and an upright back, all of which make people fail to guess her age and even fail to recognize that she was severely burned. When a reporter commented on her dress, she smiled broadly, "they are all discount goods, my coat cost 80 yuan and my trousers 18 yuan."

The interview began with her plain life

Because she was born in a lime shed, she was named "Dabai"

"When I was young, l lived a hard life, so I am very satisfied now," said Hu. She remembers vividly when she was a child, she didn't have enough to eat and her shoes were old and worn and her toes stuck through holes in the sole. She feels satisfied, therefore, with what she eats, wears and uses.

There were eight children in Hu's family and Hu Dabai was the seventh child. While fleeing from the calamity brought on by the Japanese in 1943, her mother gave birth to her at a lime shed beside the road to Luoyang City. Her father, a broad-minded man and yet barely knowing the rudiments of writing, called her "Baigong," a pet name, which meant that the lime shed was his daughter's "White Palace." The official name was "Hu Dabai," because her father thought that his daughter should enjoy the same treatment as her brothers with the Chinese character "da" in her name.