Having taught for over 70 years, her name has become a "lighthouse" for many teachers' professional growth, and her teaching experience has also integrated with the development of the teaching profession in New China. She said, "Be a teacher for the rest of your life, learn to be a teacher for the rest of your life." Over the course of more than 70 years, she has offered nearly 2000 public courses, trained ten top-level teachers in the third generation, "taught" more than 100 young teachers from all over the country, and written more than 6 million words of academic papers and monographs. From cultivating students to cultivating teachers, from changing classroom teaching to condensing educational theories, she has put her life into practice the principle of "teachers are teachers, but also role models. Now, after a lifetime of struggle, she is tired. On the evening of March 14th, Yu Yi, the recipient of the national honorary title of "People's Educator", honorary principal of Yangpu Senior High School in Shanghai, and a special grade Chinese teacher, passed away due to illness at the age of 97. Just a few months ago, on November 14, 2025, during her last interview with a reporter from Guangming Daily at home, she wrote a touching manuscript stroke by stroke. She wrote, "The miracle of education development in our country during the 14th Five Year Plan has attracted worldwide attention. We are participants and beneficiaries, often moved by it. Now, drawing a new five-year blueprint and continuing to strive, the beautiful scenery is right in front of us, which is even more exciting." When it comes to basic education, Yu Yi said, "Expanding and improving the quality of basic education, the core of improving quality is to enhance the quality of human cultivation. Basic education is to lay a foundation for people, and the roots must be tied up correctly, deeply, and firmly in order to grow into towering trees. Without a solid foundation, the earth will move and the mountains will shake When it comes to the construction of a high-level teacher team, Yu Yi said, "There are many requirements and conditions for team building, but I believe the most important one is to inspire and guide the spiritual growth of teachers, establish a benchmark for their spiritual world, and set a benchmark for their pursuit. This benchmark is the spirit of educators." "The spirit of educators is the 'spiritual presentation of the teacher group image'. ”In Yu Yi's mind, the unique educational spirit of China is a highly condensed and integrated combination of China's long-standing excellent teacher culture and the innovative requirements of the new era. For the vast majority of teachers, it is neither unattainable nor out of reach. It is all around us, in our thoughts and words. For example, loving students, teaching well, loving the motherland, etc. Countless outstanding teachers have the core elements and excellent genes of China's unique educator spirit. Now, through inspiring, exploring, condensing, refining, and sublimating, we need to create a spiritual lighthouse and action guide for the teacher group. "Despite being a young woman, Yu Yi's thinking is still active, and her heart always cares about thousands of teachers and children. And the students she has taught, the teachers she has guided, even those who have only attended one class or met once, deeply remember her and are inspired by her. There is no speech script, no PPT, only a microphone and a burning heart. Her words were as plain as a casual conversation, but every word hit the heart like a hammer... "An audience member recorded an unforgettable presentation like this. That year, Yu Yi was already 90 years old. I was admitted to Yangpu Middle School in 1965. Not long after enrollment, I learned that there was a Chinese teacher named Yu Yi in my second year of high school who had a motherly love and care for her students. Because of Teacher Yu, I deeply felt the profoundness of Chinese language and the wonderful phonetics of Chinese characters. Due to the influence of Teacher Yu, I ultimately chose to major in Chinese literature... "After 60 years, her students still vividly remember the beauty of the classroom created by Yu Yi. A pure capitalized person, a flag that sets a good example for others, and in my heart, the people's teacher is like Teacher Yu Yi... People are reluctant to let her go. In recent years, people have seen her spirited on the podium and writing at her desk, but they do not know that for decades of high workload, Yu Yi has not been spared from stomach ulcers, hepatitis, and heart disease. In the past two years, she has been repeatedly tormented by new illnesses, but she has been silently carrying them on, practicing the vow of "let life walk with mission" with a fighting attitude. Last year, Shanghai Education Press wanted to supplement Yu Yi's autobiography "Years Like Songs", and the Shanghai Yangpu Senior High School Yu Yi's Growth Footprint Museum needed a self narrative of her life experiences. Everyone knows that Yu Yi is old and frail, and it is almost impossible for her to complete such heavy writing. They all asked her to speak and then have her review the transcript. Who would have thought that Teacher Yu would persist in writing during her illness, writing three new chapters of 30000 words for her autobiography in May and June, and writing a 17000 word autobiography on the occasion of the summer in July and August? "Her students said," She wrote life with her life, a poem of education with her life. "She often said," Ideals are in her post, faith is in action. She likes Wen Yiduo's poetry and prose - 'Red candle! Let it flow! How can you not flow? Please keep flowing your oil to the world, cultivate comforting flowers, and bear happy fruits!' This is just like a portrayal of her life. The reporter opened the interview book and found a page handwritten by Yu Yi: "The responsibility of a teacher is as great as the sky." He meticulously drew every stroke. The reporter couldn't help but think of her neatly styled short hair and always wearing a peaceful and serene smile. She spent her whole life writing this simple line of words. (New Society)