Zhang Guimei (Chinese: 张桂梅; born 15 June 1957) is a Chinese educator who is the founder and principal of Huaping High School for Girls, China's first and only free public high school for girls – in a poor, mountainous region in southwest China's Yunnan.

She took the college entrance examination of China, Gao Kao, four times for multiple reasons, including financial issues, loss of important legal documents, and performance stress.

In October 1974, the 17-year-old Zhang Guimei followed her sister to participate in the "Third Front" to Zhongdian County (now Shangri-La City) in southwest China's Yunnan.

[6][7] In August 1996, she decided to leave the place with which she was too familiar and applied to teach in Huaping County National Middle School in Lijiang, where she was promoted to head teacher of the Third Class due to her excellent work.

[8][7] After hearing the news, members of the Huaping Women's Federation and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference donated money to her for treatment.

[2][6][11] To raise money for establishing a school, between 2002 and 2007, Zhang spent the summer and winter vacations on the streets in the provincial capital city Kunming, asking people to donate.

[2][12][11] Within a short time, the governments of Lijiang and Huaping County allocated one million yuan for her, and she also received financial support from various organizations and warmhearted people in different regions.

[5][11] In order to prevent the poor girls from losing the opportunity to study due to poverty, she stipulated that tuition and accommodation fees are all free.

[14] Over the past 12 years, this high school has graduated a total of 10 classes of students, from which 1,804 girls from impoverished areas entered their dream universities.

Zhang Jiamei provided these girls the opportunities to achieve their dreams and change their social status.