Ma Yan is not really a writer, but this 15-year-old girl has written a book that has moved many people around the world. Ma Yan's diary tells us about Ma's life. She lives in a poor village called Zhangjiashu in Tongxin, Ningxia, and she has no money to go to school. However, she is brave and wants to go to school very much. Her mother gave her diary to a reporter, Pierre Haski when he went to Zhangjiashu in 2001. Now, Ma Yan's diary has been published in France, Italy, Germany, Japan and China. Ma Yan is now a Junior Three student at Yuwang Middle School in Tongxin. Before this, she had to drop out of school twice. She had to stop going to school the first time, because her mum told her there was no money for her to go to school. She worked for 21 days and saved 13 yuan. With this money, she went back to school. The second time, her family told her she had to leave school while her two brothers could stay. "I want to study," Ma Yan wrote in her diary. "Why can boys study but girls can't? It would be wonderful if I could stay at school forever." Ma Yan loves school so much because she wants to have a better life. "My parents work hard in the fields but they are still poor. They have no knowledge . Most girls in my village leave school early and get married young. I don't want that kind of life," Ma Yan said. After her story became known, many students sent money to her. She hopes to go to Tsinghua University and become a reporter. "Then, I can find poor kids like me, and help them," she said. Why did Ma Yan leave school for the first time?
She didn't study as hard as her brothers. Her brothers studied better than she did. Her family didn't have money for her to school. She had to help her mother do some housework.