The spring breeze brings warmth, and everything is prosperous. With the warm sunshine in March, colleges and universities in Lanzhou have ushered in a new semester. Looking back at the just-concluded winter vacation, the majority of young students bid farewell to the ivory tower and went to their hometown hot land, and in the warm time of reunion with their relatives, they devoted themselves to social practice with full enthusiasm. They keep walking, walking into the fields, going deep into the street community, increasing their talents and tempering their skills in various practices such as job experience, volunteer service, and cultural inheritance, measuring the land of the motherland with the footsteps of youth, and helping the development of their hometown with hard work.
Deepen the sense of social responsibility in grassroots services
"Back in my hometown of Liangdang County, Longnan City, Gansu Province, the volunteer service in the love care class in Chengguan Town allowed me to spend a warm and fulfilling winter vacation. This experience of taking root at the grassroots level and serving the masses not only allowed me to feel the temperature of my hometown up close, but also allowed me to deeply understand the responsibilities and missions shouldered by contemporary young students. Talking about the practice of returning to his hometown, Yuan Yuhang from the 2024 Digital Media Art Class 1 of the School of Educational Technology of Northwest Normal University was full of emotion.
During the love care class, Yuan Yuhang became a warm-hearted counselor, patiently and meticulously tutored the children with homework, answered questions, and sorted out the key and difficult points in learning one by one; In her spare time, she accompanies the children to draw and cut paper, create childlike works with simple materials, play puzzle cartoons, and organize fun outdoor games. The innocent smiling faces and lively figures made her truly appreciate the value of companionship and guidance, and also gained the purest growth and emotion in the silent dedication of moisturizing things.
"From campus to grassroots, in the process of serving others and dedicating my hometown, I have completed the transformation from a student to a practitioner." Yuan Yuhang said that this practice not only exercised her communication, coordination and organizational skills, but also strengthened her original intention of serving her hometown and giving back to her homeland.
Liang Zinuo, a member of the 2025 dance class of the School of Dance of Northwest Normal University, participated in the Spring Festival at the Bozhou Railway Station in Anhui Province, and contributed to alleviating the pressure of Spring Festival travel with bits and pieces. "As a dance student, I transform my concentration and empathy on the stage into service motivation, take the initiative to solve problems for passengers, assist the elderly and families with young children to carry luggage, guide passengers to wait for the bus, guide the route to enter and exit the station, and patiently answer ticket purchase and transfer consultations." Liang Zinuo undertook the responsibility of shooting and recording while serving the Spring Festival passengers, using the lens to freeze the persistence of volunteers in service and the expectations of passengers to go to reunion, sort out video materials, and help spread the style of volunteer service.
Temper the ability to work hard in social practice
"Staring at the red patterns of Liangdang paper-cutting, I touched the temperature of the revolutionary years; Keeping an eye on the screen of e-commerce to help farmers, I saw my hometown specialties go all over the country. This winter vacation, the social practice of 'returning to hometown' allows us to understand our hometown, increase our talents, and let our youth shine in the hot land of serving our hometown. During the holiday, Zhang Luchuan's practical insights from the School of Materials Science and Engineering of Lanzhou University of Technology expressed the common voice of many students who participated in the social practice of "returning to their hometowns" during the winter vacation.
In order to lead young students to temper their character and increase their talents in serving the construction of their hometowns, during the winter vacation of 2026, the Youth League Committee of Lanzhou University of Technology will organize all students to return to their hometowns with the theme of "Youth for Chinese-style Modernization", go deep into the grassroots, and carry out various forms and rich social practice activities of "returning to their hometowns". Young students closely integrate what they have learned in the classroom with the needs of the grassroots level, and write down the youth answer sheet belonging to the new era in the vast world.
This winter vacation, red search has become the key word of social practice for many students. Zhao Chenhuan from the School of Electrical Engineering and Information Engineering walked into the former residence of Soong Ching Ling in Shanghai, and in the quiet courtyard hidden by camphor, he deeply understood the profound connotation of family and country feelings from cultural relics and past events. "This is not only a witness to history, but also a spiritual coordinate across time and space." She said emotionally. At the same time, students like Zhang Luchuan went deep into the red sites of their hometowns to explore new paths for the integration of red culture and intangible cultural heritage skills. In Liangdang, Gansu, she and her team systematically sorted out red resources, tried to translate revolutionary stories with paper-cutting art, and let the red gene be passed on from generation to generation in innovative expression.
Sun Kaiwen of the School of Design and Art focuses on "intangible cultural heritage + cultural creativity" and explores the modern transformation of Yellow River cultural paper-cutting works; Huo Zunxin from the School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering visited Zhangzhi Park in Guazhou and felt the thousand-year-old charm of Chinese calligraphy art in the pen and ink mountains and rivers of the "Hometown of Cao Sheng". They either empower with design or measure with their footsteps, becoming recorders, communicators and innovators of their hometown culture, and respond to the youth call of "strengthening cultural self-confidence and telling Chinese stories well" with practical actions.
Cultivate hometown feelings in the dedication
"Returning to my hometown, going to the grassroots level, serving the neighborhood with what I have learned, and practicing responsibility with hard work, this winter vacation practice has given me a more real understanding of responsibility and growth." Niu Rongying, who participated in the social practice of "returning to his hometown", is one of the many practical students of Lanzhou Jiaotong University. During the winter vacation of 2026, Lanzhou Jiaotong University will fully mobilize and carefully organize to call on the majority of Jiaotong University students to devote themselves to the social practice of "returning to their hometowns". After the launch of the activity, all colleges responded quickly and participated extensively, and students went to various places to carry out practical services based on their homeland, forming a good situation with wide coverage, rich forms and solid results.
This "return to hometown" social practice activity covers many faculties and departments such as the School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, the School of Foreign Languages, and the School of Architecture and Urban Planning. Hundreds of Jiaotong University students have walked into the front line of county and township governments, community and village committees, and people's livelihood services, and have worked hard in seemingly ordinary grassroots positions. They assist in sorting out files, writing promotional materials, designing personalized homework tutoring, and understanding responsibilities in trivial and meticulous work; Participate in home visits, hospital guidance, and care class activities, cultivate hometown feelings in bit by bit dedication, and shorten the distance with the masses.
"This winter vacation, I responded to the call of my hometown and participated in the road sanitation and cleaning volunteer service organized by the village committee of Laoshan Village. Zhang Jing of Lanzhou Jiaotong University's Vehicle Engineering Class 2401 narrated. Every morning, as soon as dawn broke, he and the villagers picked up brooms and garbage clips and shuttled along the roads in the village, cleaning up garbage, fallen leaves and all kinds of debris on the roadside. "I originally thought that sweeping the floor was just a simple physical work, but when I really did it, I found that it was not easy, bending over for a long time, waving the broom repeatedly, and after a while, I had back pain and sweating, but watching the road under my feet become clean and tidy from messy little by little, my heart was full of practicality and a sense of accomplishment."
During the cleaning process, Zhang Jing also really felt the difficulty of maintaining the rural environment. "The plastic bags, cigarette butts, and beverage bottles discarded by some villagers not only destroy the appearance of the village, but may also pollute the soil and water sources, bringing long-term harm to the environment. In the past, when passing through the village, I simply felt that the road was not clean enough, but now after experiencing it myself, I understand that a clean and beautiful rural environment not only requires everyone's conscious care, but also is inseparable from the long-term perseverance and dedication of grassroots workers and volunteers. He said that this public welfare work not only exercised his hands-on ability, but also made him deeply understand the true meaning of responsibility and dedication. As returnee youth, we should not only be witnesses to the development and changes of our hometown, but also participants and practitioners of rural construction. A street cleaning may be insignificant, but as long as everyone can take the initiative to care for the environment, take the initiative to contribute to their hometown, and take the initiative to converge, they can always keep their hometown clean and livable. ”
This winter vacation, students in Lanzhou colleges and universities took youth as a sail and hard work as an oar, returned to their hometowns, took root at the grassroots level, and moved forward bravely and solidly practiced in many fields such as community governance, rural revitalization, public welfare services, and enrollment and publicity, so as to truly enter the masses, get close to people's livelihood, and serve the grassroots. They attached themselves to their homeland with a pure heart, built their hometown with the power of youth, and played a moving movement of youth volunteer service and youth struggle in the new era in the vivid practice of serving their hometown.
Our reporter Liu Baoliwen/photo