"three" is a magic number for Cai Guangtian . it has brough term good lick as well as bad .he was born in 1923 --and every '3' since then seems to have been of greter-or lesser -significanceat age 23 in1935, (three years before liberation) he graduated from Fudan University in Shanghai with degree in civill engineering.
at the age of 33 in 1956 agfer he bed taught math inShanghai No 51 MIddle School for three years, he was labeled as a"rightist"and sent to a people's commune to be reformed through manual labour.He stayed there for nearly three years.

Atr 43 in 1966 he became a target in the "cultural revolution" and was later later imprisoned for three months.At 53 in 1976 fortune bagan to smile on him and he was allowed to return to the classroom as a math teacher again,
Finally, in 1983, after he had retired , Cai accomplished what the Chinese describe as "amazing the world with a single brilliant feat."today, going on 63,he is president of teh qianjin school of continustion education, the largest nongovernment sponored apare-time school in Shanghai
Stout and weath-beaten,bespectacled Cai looks energetic and sharp-eyes. Working 10hours a day.he is always on the runattending meetings, discussing work with experts and fa-culty members, meeting students ,etc.A tight schedule of appointments is chalked on the board in his office.when he goes places, he rides a battery-powerd bicycle - one of the latest modern products in Shanghai,a symbol of keeping up with the time."No fun jostling on crowed buses," he explained .
"I go to see facuity members a their homes early in the in the morning before they leave for their regular work. They teach in our school in their apare times weekday evenings and Sunday morning we have to keep each other posted," Cai said.
School work is all cai is living for now, But a few years ago he never dreamed he would become president of such a large school.
" I studied civil engineering.but I bave mever had the chance to use it except that when I was doing manual labour in acommence and was asked to design and build a pig-aty for a productionbrigade," Cai found it ironically amusing.
After leaving university Cai couldn't get a job in civil engineering .Instead, he became a real estate agent. After liberation he became a middle-school teacher to make himself a more useful person the people adn socioty.
When he had to go to the people's comune for his thought reform his salary was cut by half. With four children in school, he had to sell his belongings to feed them -his watch, woolen blankets, radio set, auits and whatever else that could bring money. 'in the meantime , he worked hard in teh commun e- mot only in teh fields but also at all kinds of odd jobs l After three years he was sent back to his school to his school to work as a libratian - still considered too ideologically dangerous to teach students.
When asked what caused him to be labeled as rightist , he said smiling ,"i talked too much .as the Chinese saying goes ,'all calamirities come by means of the mouth .'But i have never learnd my lesson.i am still too outspoken ."
Maybe people who have a forthright are just like that .
Cai nevercomplains about the injustice done to him ,he is not the sort who looks back and cries over spilt milk . to him , the present and the future are much more important er being released from his athree-month imprisonment in the "cultural revolution ,"he was assigned to work in the same middle school as jack of all trades -plumber electician broadcastsystem maintenance man and transporter . after the "cultutal revolution."when he was rehabilitated and resumed his teaching -position had to hire four been men to take over what he had been doing all alone .
In 1980 he hoined the chenese Democratic Party of Peasants and Workers , a 45-year-old dimocratic party ,which has been playing an active part in china's demodtratic revolution as well as its cocialist revolution and construction .in 1983 (another "three') he was elected a member of the shanghai municipal committee of the party .
As he grew older ,he became all the more eager to make more contributions to society.
With the nation's modersnizations in full swing , more and more people from all walks of life were beginning to realize the importance of continuation education .
In 1983 Cai started something he considered mosted most meaningful in all his life . he raised 100 yuan,recruited a retied former colleague of his ,and the two of them set up the Qianjin spare-time school in shanghai's XuehuiDistrict , with Cai as its president.
They invited experienced teachers to conduct courses in foreign languages , traditional chinese medicine and computer sciebce. in the beginning there were only 300 students.
Because of efficient management and supports from all around ,the two-and -a -half old school has developed into a full-fledged school of continuation education with a teaching staff os 130 and a student enrollment of 5400.But amazingly,its streamlined six-member staff.
Currently , the school has 115 classes, which offer such courses as English ,computer science ,acupuncture and moxbustion tradetional chinese medicine , and traditional Chinese gynaecology.
The school has not only developed in size but also in its teaching quality .in may this year , 175 of the student s took the American TOEFL and 151 scored over 500 points ,not easy for hon-native speakers of english . to students with distinguished scholastic records ,the school offerscholarshi-ps.
In October this year Qianjin School was cited as one of the national model schools run by demo-ctatic parties , and President Cai was inveted to attend the citation conference in Beijing , and was received by goverment leaders.
Cai likes to play Chinese chess, 'But I have no time for my favourite hobby any longer - it is too time-consuming ," Cai said not without regret . After a pause he aded ,"I can still indulge in listening to Chinese folk misic sometimes while I work . That's another favourite hobby of mine ."