Bessie Xiao 肖昱欣

Bessie has been studying Buddha Dhama for 14 years. She has practiced mindfulness-based stress reduction with Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn since 2018 and practiced Zhi Guan meditation since 2019. She was formerly the Vice Chairman of the China Poverty Alleviation Association (now renamed the China Rural Development Association), has been at the forefront of advancing educational poverty alleviation initiatives, with a particular focus on mental health education and the promotion of mindfulness practices.

Under her leadership, the China Poverty Alleviation Association's University Education Poverty Alleviation Committee has mobilized the resources of 106 university members to support the national strategy for poverty eradication through educational development. The committee has implemented targeted and precise poverty alleviation measures, achieving notable success in rural teacher training programs that emphasize needs-based training and collaborative efforts across institutions. Her additional commitment in leading Qiming Academy has led to thousands of village schools access to educational resources.

Besides integrating mindfulness into these fields, she also has led patients in hospitals through mindfulness exercises to alleviate pain and has organized reading groups on Thich Nhat Hanh's works.