Remembering young students the cities left behind

Zhong still remembers a summer day years ago when she got caught in sudden heavy rain on the way to the school.

"When I arrived at the school, I was soaked through, but to my surprise no one was absent," she said. "At lunch time, when a student found the steamed bread I brought from home was soaked in the rain, she ran home and asked her grandmother to prepare hot meal for me."

"I was deeply moved by those children and decided to stick to my position no matter what," she added.

In 2011, Zhong and her five students integrated into Gongnong town central school, a larger school 5 km away.

Throughout her life, Zhong has never stopped her endeavors to help impoverished students.

In 2013, Zhong founded a workstation that was named in her honour, to inspire people to pay more attention to poor and left-behind children.

Over the past few years, the workstation has received more than 200,000 yuan in donations, which have been used for students' lunch and transportation fees, as well as building a playground and library for the school.

Zhong has won many honors for her work, including being named one of the most honored rural teachers China in 2013. She was also elected the National Labor Model in 2015.

"It is hard sometimes and there is still a long way for me to go, but I will never regret it," she said. "I will continue to accompany my students, which makes me feel happy."