Korean School Story

[Anchor Lead]

Thanks to the efforts of Koreans living in Suzhou, a small Korean school that had been leasing space from a Chinese school finally moved into a new building of its own. Here is the inspiring story of Suzhou Korean School, and how its construction fund that started with only 50,000 won ballooned to 16 billion won.

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There was a time when they rented space out of a Chinese middle school. There was no place to hang the blackboard, so they had to set it up against the window. Students had to play sports on the concrete pavement, because they didn't have access to the proper field.

[Soundbite] (Korean Students) : "We are not allowed to go over there. We need to get permission. (So you play here?) Yes."

Koreans living in Suzhou had no school for their children except for expensive international schools. So six years ago, they decided to build their own school. They received school accreditation with difficulty, but the learning environment was poor because the school didn't have its own building.

[Soundbite] Woo Won-jae (Principal, Suzhou Korean School) : "I entered China on tourist visa and held entrance ceremonies as a tourist until we got a certificate of incorporation."

The fund started with only 50,000 Korean won. But Korean-Chinese residents pitched in, and the Korean consul general and the Korean community president toured the country to ask for corporate donations and government subsidies to set up a building fund of 1 6 billion won. At last, Suzhou Korean School, equal in size to three football fields and equipped with first-rate facilities, opened its doors with a moving ceremony. It took only six years to get accreditation for a school and build a new school building in China, a country where establishing a school is very difficult. That is why the locals say that Suzhou Korean School is the most successful case of a foreign school founded in China.