In the Grade One classroom, once again, Xie Hailong saw Su Mingjuan sitting in the second row. The contour of her head was especially clear-cut and distinct in the morning light through the window. Suddenly, Xie Hailong discovered the girl's eyes were winking, black, bright and particularly big and they were brimming with yearning. Xie Hailong held his camera, waiting outside the window. With the pencil in her hand, Su Mingjuan raised her eyes again and the instant she stared at the blackboard, the moment was immediately caught by Xie Hailong. He pressed the shutter without any hesitation.
After that, the picture "Big-Eye Girl" came everywhere all around the country. In prosperous big cities, in remote mountain villages, the promotion picture of "Big-Eye Girl" was frequently seen everywhere. From her yearning look, people seemingly heard the aspirations of millions of dropout children…
"Big-Eye Girl" Su Mingjuan became the representative of Project Hope. The China Youth Development Foundation registered "Big-Eye Girl" as the publicity logo. The picture had been employed by newspapers, posters for hundreds of millions of times and had nearly become the print with the largest circulation in the 20th century. According to the survey in the Photography for the 50th Anniversary of the Foundation of Our Nation — in Our Memory, the "Big-Eye Girl" of Project Hope ranked top and was regarded as the most heart-shaking picture in the past fifty years. The survey also showed that half of the donators of Project Hope might not know the origin and development of Project Hope, but few of them didn't know "Big-Eye Girl" . Many people made donations to the "Big-Eye Girl" .
In 1993, the lottery ticket called "love coupon" , two yuan for one, sold quite well in Jinzhai County. The revenue was used as educational outlay. The picture "Big-Eye Girl" was printed on each coupon. Some villagers bought the coupons and felt the big-eye girl looked like Meizi (the nickname of Su Mingjuan). Even Su Mingjuan's father, Sun Liangyou thought that the girl looked similar to his daughter. Then he asked his daughter whether someone once took a picture of her or not. Since it had been several years after the birthday of the picture, Su Mingjuan herself didn't quite remember about the picture.
Another time, Su Liangyou took Su Mingjuan to see the doctor in the township clinic. The doctor looked Su Mingjuan up and down for quite a while and then opened the drawer, took out a piece of newspaper and pointed at a picture, asking, "Aren't you the girl?" Some nurses and patients came around and all pointed at the girl in the picture, saying, "Yes. It is this girl. You see the big eyes…"
Someone took the newspaper to school and teachers all thought "Big-Eye Girl" was exactly Su Mingjuan. In order to find some evidences, the teachers asked Su Mingjuan to let her mother try to look for the small plaided coat, which was the same as that in the picture. Su Mingjuan did as the teachers told her and her mother did find that plaided coat in an old closet. After the contrast, the teachers concluded that the style and pattern of Su's coat were exactly the same as that in the picture. Su Mingjuan was precisely the "Big-Eye Girl" . There was not any doubt.
Up to that year, it had been three years since the picture was first published and the "Big-Eye Girl" had enjoyed great fame both at home and abroad. But, Su Mingjuan herself was oblivious to the phenomenal.
Another two years past. The general office of the China Youth Daily was planning the newspaper's 45th anniversary. Now Xie Hailong was a news photographer in the China Youth Daily. The office offered a special invitation to Su Mingjuan to attend the celebration of the anniversary. When hearing the invitation, Su Mingjuan just couldn't believe it and after confirmation, she was so excited that she couldn't fall asleep for several nights. Before heading for Beijing, the Vice Secretary of the County Communist Youth League Committee, who would accompany her to Beijing, especially took her to a hairdresser to have her long hair cut short, just like the original appearance in the picture.
The train went into Beijing Station. As soon as Su Mingjuan stepped outside the train, she got shocked. She saw an uncle holding a 1.2 square-meter "Big-Eye Girl" picture. Su Mingjuan's eyes in the picture were even bigger than Su Mingjuan's own eyes.
The uncle kindly said to her, "Have you forgotten me? I took this picture for you five years ago. My name is Xie Hailong. You can call me Uncle Xie."
At this time, some passengers came around.
Someone said, "Isn't she the big-eye girl?"
The other one said, "She has grown up!"
During Su Mingjuan's stay in Beijing, Xie Hailong took her to Tian'anmen Square. For the first time, she stepped on the Tian'anmen Rostrum. She also climbed the Great Wall. Every time she went to a destination, she could be recognized by people. Some wanted her signature and some wanted to take photos with her.
Three months later, Su Mingjuan came to Beijing again. This time, in the CCTV "Zhengda Variety Show" she and Xie Hailong told us the story "Grow in Hope" .
Because of the influence of the "Big-Eye Girl" , Procter & Gamble donated 200,000 yuan to rebuild Su Mingjuan's mother school-Zhangwan Primary School and turned it to be "Jinzhai County P&G Hope Primary School" and it became the best quality and the most beautiful primary school in the county.
Thanks to Su Mingjuan, Jinzhai County also gained the attention from the public and in a few years, had received donation of more than 20 million yuan and built more than sity Hope Primary Schools. More than 10,000 poor students received grants.
Project Hope sponsored Su Mingjuan to complete her middle school education and then her high school education.
