Making the most of one meal a day

"Add more sugar, please," 12-year-old Yu Haiyan said to a vendor who sells snacks during the noon break at her school in Baoshan village, Gansu province.

Wearing a big smile, Yu took a small bowl of mixed congee - a thin gruel of rice and water, which is all she can afford with the 3 yuan (4 cents) her grandfather gives her every day - and moved off to chat with her friends.

However, the vendor doesn't visit every day, so the fifth-grade student often misses lunch. She prefers to stay in the classroom with her friends. "I usually spend a few coppers on a bottle of orange or grape flavor soda water," she said.