Kindergartens creatively transformed in rural China

Playtime for 24 preschoolers in Yelang Village Kindergarten is different from most. Liu Fen - unlike traditional teachers who tend to dominate the class - gives more freedom to her students, letting them do what they want. She observes and records their behavior, rather than constantly telling them to calm down.

The 28-year-old is the only teacher at the kindergarten in Tongren, Guizhou province.

Born in a remote village in Guizhou, Liu didn't attend kindergarten herself when she was a child. "There was no kindergarten in my village. The nearest primary school required a two-hour hike through the mountains. For fun, we played hide-and-seek and made figurines out of mud," she recalled.