Page 76 - updated on July

Yu Jihui: “A Stinking Old Ninth – A Tale of the Coal Capital” (updated on July 2020)

English. The headmaster said English was not taught

in the school and asked me what else I could teach. I

said that, in that case, I would prefer to teach Chinese.

The headmaster was satisfied with my answer and

told me that the students of year nine needed a

Chinese teacher. He then asked me whether I could

teach the next day. I said there was no problem. The

headmaster smiled satisfactorily and said that I was

worthy of the name of a university graduate.

Next morning, I went into the classroom with

two books - a textbook in my right hand and

Chairman Mao’s Red Book (Mao’s quotations book)

in my left hand. After I went into the classroom, I

found that it was very quiet. Not a single student

made a noise. I was very pleased with them, thinking

they must be well-disciplined and well-behaved - not

a ‘group of hoodlums’, as people commented. I put

the textbook on the pulpit and opened Mao’s Red

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