Wu jin/Shanghai Daily news

No matter how the world changes, Xu Zhenbao, a 63-year-old teacher who was born in Anhui Province and now lives in Malu Town of Jiading District, says he will be satisfied as long as he has his collection of furniture and other goods used in traditional Chinese village life.
Xu has amassed a large collection of ancient coins, bronze circlets, necklaces and even second-hand rosewood furniture.
After being relocated to the district, Xu and his wife live in a Western style villa.
But different from the other stone-made villas in the area, Xu decorated his house with wooden furniture from his old family home or bought from second-hand bazaars.
To maintain his family's Eastern styled decoration, he spent more than 10,000 yuan (US$1,225) on a wooden folding screen, a considerable sum of money for a suburban teacher.
"Except for furniture that has been used for hundreds of years, we can leave nothing for our children to remind them of the past lives in their hometown," said Xu.
The man's great zest toward ancient collection even inspired him to decorate his backyard with the stones and bricks abandoned after the demolishing of old houses. He also used the stones to make a table and stools in the garden to distinguish it from others.
Born in one of the country's most ancient places, outstanding both for its business and academic achievements, Xu is influenced by his hometown's environment and is very interested in history.
In 1962, he entered the history college at Fudan University and moved from Anhui Province to the city.
His time on campus ended with the beginning of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).
He collected all of the articles recording the revolutionary activities and thoughts from Fudan University during the mess.
Sensing the importance of this collection in recent years, he copied a 900,000-character-long mimeographed document, including the books of Fudan chronological events, and Cultural Revolution editorials.
Now, Xu is looking for the opportunity to publish his work as the documents are a rare record of what happened during the tumultuous 10-year period.
Like millions of other Chinese intellectuals, Xu was sent to a village to receive re-education from farmers after his graduation. After two years of re-education, he was appointed to teach history at Malu Middle School in 1969.
Working as a suburban teacher is not a great job for a graduate of the city's top university. Xu tried to change positions, but found teaching was suitable for him.
"It was the wrong time to raise the thought of seeking a better job, since English, my biggest weakness in university, was becoming popular in the city," laughed Xu.
"At last I found to be a teacher was the most suitable job for me and is satisfied with the peaceful life in the suburban town."
He published a book on a collection of historic materials related to communications between China and other countries throughout history in the 1990s.
Over the years, he has published 205 articles in various newspapers around the city, including Jiading Newspaper, the Xinming Evening News and Wenhui Daily.
"Thanks to the teacher's job, its slower pace enables me to do what I love in my life. I feel quite satisfied," smiled Xu.