Student gives wings to Flying Box project

After learning about struggles facing pupils in poor, remote areas, 22-year-old decides she can make a difference

Liu Jiaying says she does not normally stand out from the crowd, but the 22-year-old student from Shenyang Architecture University separated herself from the pack when she designed and built a portable dormitory for pupils in a mountainous area of Guizhou province.

The dorm, which Liu calls the "Flying Box", was inspired by journalist-turned-philanthropist Deng Fei in 2015. Deng's dream was to offer safe and comfortable accommodation to students whose homes were far from their schools in poor mountainous areas and save them from long laborious commutes on foot along slippery and steep mountain paths.