High school churns out pilot recruits for PLA

The archive of First High School of Taoyuan county in Hunan province has collected a glittering array of the school's achievements over the past century. But what always brings a smile to its current principal, Yan Liguo, is a letter and a payment.

One day in September 2013, Yan received an anonymous bank draft in the amount of 600 yuan ($87) folded in an envelope, along with the code of a People's Liberation Army unit. It had been sent from Changchun, Jilin province.

"I was baffled. Why would someone send a check from miles away?" he said.