Recently, the exhibition "Family and Country Sentiments Across Mountains and Seas: Qiaopi(Overseas Chinese Remittance Letters) History and Culture Exhibition" was held at the Jinan Library. Jointly organized by Shandong and Guangdong provinces, the exhibition features 210 archival photographs and 168 items (sets) of qiaopi artifacts.

　　Patriotic Overseas Chinese Leader Ning Xiangyu: Donating to Build the Shandong Overseas Chinese Middle School

　　At the exhibition, the story of Ning Xiangyu, a patriotic overseas Chinese leader from Indonesia, is especially moving. Ning Xiangyu was from Pingdu, Shandong. In 1940, he traveled alone to Southeast Asia carrying Changyi silk, and thereafter lived in Jakarta, Indonesia, for many years. When the People's Republic of China was founded, he organized local overseas Chinese to hold celebrations.

　　In 1956, Ning Xiangyu joined forces with fellow overseas Chinese to donate funds to build the Shandong Overseas Chinese Middle School in his hometown of Pingdu. At the time, Ning Xiangyu and another patriotic overseas Chinese leader, Sun Fengwu, traveled far and wide to raise money. After more than a year of effort, they collected donations from 519 patriotic overseas Chinese from Shandong, totaling 1,949,735 Indonesian rupiah and 2,420 Indian rupees—equivalent to more than 300,000 yuan in RMB. Among them, Ning Xiangyu and Sun Fengwu each donated 60,000 rupiah. The Overseas Chinese Middle School finally began enrolling students in 1956, and this year happens to mark the 70th anniversary of its founding.

　　In 1967, amid the anti-Chinese wave perpetrated by the Indonesian authorities, Ning Xiangyu disregarded his personal safety and worked tirelessly for his fellow overseas Chinese, but tragically lost his life. He devoted his entire life to embodying the heartfelt devotion of "loving one's country and hometown, and giving back to one's native soil."