A Principal Mom——Zhang Xiaoying

Hangzhou, a city known as the "Paradise on Earth," is a hub of culture and talent. Here, education is highly esteemed, with prestigious institutions gathered together. There stands a school, exuding an elegant and refined ambiance, rich in humanistic and artistic spirit, where elites emerge. Following the footsteps of love, let us explore the Yinghuang Guotai Education Group, a beacon of elite education, and get acquainted with its founder, President and Principal Zhang Xiaoying.

Zhang Xiaoying, Chairman and President

She was born in Taiwan and grew up in mainland China. She has gone through ups and downs, and Ms. Zhang Xiaoying, who was not cared for by her biological parents since childhood, has a deep and unforgettable desire for love.

In the last century, a returning overseas Chinese teacher who was once labeled as a rightist falsely reported her age as a social youth in order to send the underage orphan Zhang Xiaoying to university. In 1989, when she stepped out of college and was still an underage, she unexpectedly refused the coveted high school music teacher's iron rice bowl job and used her overseas aunt to make up for the lack of maternal love. In the late 1980s, she could buy 10 houses in Hangzhou with full payment and enjoy a comfortable life. However, with an entrepreneurial spirit that no one has seen before or felt as a person, she ran around in many places in the snowstorm, fell... suffered a comminuted fracture in her left knee, and continued to move forward with crutches. English teachers who have graduated from universities often personally carry her to the fifth floor and submit educational materials. In December 1989, I finally applied for the long-awaited school license.

Hiring teachers, renting school buildings, purchasing equipment, decorating classrooms, renovating playgrounds... leaving behind her hard work and sweat, she embarked on her arduous journey of running a school.

The first batch of students she received were twin babies weighing less than 5 pounds from disadvantaged families in Wenzhou, and a 5-year-old disabled boy who couldn't speak after undergoing major heart surgery. In that year, Hong Guangyu, the 80 year old director who personally approved the permit for the chairman, came to the familiar campus of Yinghuang Guotai Education Group again on the Yuanxiao (Filled round balls made of glutinous rice-flour for Lantern Festival) Festival in February 2025 to witness everything in the past.

Her good deeds have moved countless parents. Despite financial constraints, she established the Zhang Xiaoying Scholarship at Zhejiang Medical University to support dozens of impoverished university students in completing their studies. At the same time, she adopted 18 abandoned infants and orphans to provide for their living and education. She donated more than 2 million yuan to the China Charity Federation and walked into the nursing home amidst her busy schedule. Some elderly people living alone in provinces and cities such as Zhejiang, Yunnan, Henan, and Shanxi are the objects of her condolences.

Over the course of 36 years, from 3 5-year-old babies and 26 faculty members, we have developed into kindergartens, primary schools, middle schools, high schools, and former specialized colleges, with tens of thousands of children graduating from Yinghuang Guotai Education Group. Some people say that the word "Yinghuang" is a form of personality cult, but little do they know that within the two years since the birth of the group, multiple schools have stolen the names of Guotai Foreign Language School and Guotai Education Group. Helpless, the full name of the group was changed to Yinghuang Guotai Education Group by adding the word "Yinghuang".

She is a well-known high-quality private school among the citizens of Hangzhou, proudly growing up in this educational hotbed of Hangzhou. Over the course of 36 long years, her youth has provided education to China, and she has remained steadfast in her pursuit of unity of knowledge and action, fulfilling her infinite love and original intention. She is the principal sister in the hearts of faculty, the principal mother in the hearts of students, and the most beautiful principal in the eyes of migrant workers. Principal Zhang is well aware of which teacher is pregnant, which employee's child is unattended, and which teacher's family member is sick, and he promptly resolves any issues.

She is always very generous in helping others, but very stingy with herself. She doesn't have a luxury car or villa, no savings or stocks, and her heart aches for all animals. She never eats meat and has two vegetarian meals every day. The quilt on the bed has been patched and patched for decades, and all the clothes on the body are cut and made by buying cheap fabrics. The quality and educational philosophy of the principal determine the cultural background of the school. She always adheres to the educational philosophy of using love to shape the soul and beauty to cultivate sentiment, creating art education, foreign language education, and international education brands.

Principal Zhang Xiaoying was fortunate enough to study under a female piano teacher who returned to Austria from a young age, and gradually became proficient in various arts with her talent and diligence. She is skilled in playing the piano and hand wind, composing multiple improvisations, and can draw and design costumes. With her versatility, she leads the children of Yinghuang Guotai to complete the national compulsory education curriculum while choosing dozens of clubs such as piano, accordion, dance, vocal music, painting, recitation, basketball, football, table tennis, badminton, 3D printing, model airplane, clothing design, cutting, hairdressing, cooking, etc. Her extracurricular life is very rich, and the infiltration of art has opened up brilliant flowers.

Over the past 36 years, countless students have mastered instrumental performance skills, and thousands of students have been directly admitted to renowned art schools around the world. Principal Zhang promotes the development of the group with an international perspective. At the beginning of the school, she firmly led teachers and students to face the world and go global. Yinghuang Guotai has the qualification to hire foreign teachers. In the second year of school, in order to learn from excellent teaching methods and experiences abroad, Principal Zhang organized teachers and students to observe and learn from 18 countries. In 2003, she founded the San Francisco Film Academy in the United States as a base for teachers and students to study abroad. Guotai has established cooperative educational relationships with renowned universities in countries such as the United States, France, and Australia. Since kindergarten, English teaching has been immersed in every stage of the classroom. Guotai students studying abroad have the advantage of speaking foreign languages, which attracts many parents who come to study abroad. They see Guotai as a shortcut to further their studies abroad and are willing to take it seriously.

Yinghuang Guotai has been recognized by the education authorities and has received high praise from the organization and society: A China Private Education Reform and Innovation Demonstration School B. Zhejiang Health Promotion School C Creative Activity Demonstration School D. Zhang Xiaoying, one of the top ten caring figures in China who cares about the next generation of love.

For 36 years, she has devoted herself wholeheartedly to the education industry in mainland China. She warms all the children and regards them as her own. With a kind heart, she warms every life and body. Students affectionately call her the principal's mother. Countless graduates have enrolled their children again in Yinghuang Guotai Education Group. In 2025, several students who graduated 20 years ago and are now successful entrepreneurs will return to their alma mater to meet with Principal Zhang Xiaoying.

She is like water in her life, like mountains in her work, unique in her style, and writes about private education, singing songs and legends. She has become an outstanding educator in the innovation and reform of private education in China. We should respect her and love China more than ourselves. She is Zhang Xiaoying, the chairman and principal of Hangzhou Yinghuang Guotai Education Group.