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The Rainbow Outside Chaoyangmen Gate

“If a school accepts only smart children, it encourages only competitiveness. When there are not-so-smart students around, children can learn to sympathize and to help others.”

The above quote came from a lecture given by Kiyamizu Yasimi (清水安三), a famous philanthropist and educator in Japan. He came to Being in 1930s, and set up a charity school for poor girls who lived near the Chaoyangmen Gate. People in that slum of Beijing could hardly afford an education. Poor girls often worked as prostitutes to support their families. In his school Kiyamizu Yasimi charged no tuition but asked all students to help themselves, so as to help others in the future.

The book is a touching report about the fate of Kiyamizu Yasimi and his school. When China and Japan were at war during World War II, the school and its founder found themselves in an awkward situation. It could have been shut down at any moment by the Chinese, because it was run by a Japanese schoolmaster; it was also rejected as Japanese, because Kiyamizu Yasimi refused to promote either nationalism or militarism. Being a devoted Christian, he calmly taught students how to read, write, plant, sew, and embroider, all basic skills needed by poor girls of that time, if they were to become independent someday.

It took Yamazaki Tomoko（山崎朋×”）, a famous writer and reporter in Japan, ten years to finish the book. In the preface, she said she’s always been interested in two topics: women who live at the bottom and culture exchanges between women of different nations. She used to be famous for her reports about overseas Japanese army prostitutes. Now The Rainbow Outside Chaoyang Gate is a new hit. It was reprinted ten times in Japan before its Chinese version was finished.

The school established by Kiyamizu Yasimi still exists today. Now called the Chenjinglun Middle School, it is one of the best middle schools in Beijing.