Due to the vast population in China, it is no easy task for its people to get their children to receive adequate education for a better future. The poorer villagers normally cannot afford to pay for their children’s school fees for higher education, and hence these children would have to start working at a very young age. Thus, it is no wonder why China children work so hard when they are given the opportunity to study.

In the past 14 years, Project Hope (希望工程), a charitable organization, has been helping needy students around the country. More than ten thousand Hope primary schools have been established in underdeveloped regions in the country. Conditions of these schools have also improved a lot as Project Hope utilises its funds from donations to rebuild better classrooms and furnitures.

On the last day of our Xi’an trip, we had the opportunity to visit one such Hope primary school in a village in Xi’an.

It was a warm and sincere welcome by the staff and students of 希望小学. They stood on both sides of the pathways, smiled and clapped continuously as we walked in. Some of the children even chanted "欢迎欢迎，欢迎光临!".

We were led to the open space outside the classrooms, where desks and benches were arranged nicely for everyone to sit. 

Representatives from each visiting school (as well as the principal of 希望小学) were seated in front behind the big red banner that welcomed all of us. In front of them was a small makeshift stage for their local students to perform some dance items later on. In the picture, you could see the principal of the school giving an opening speech.

As the pupils were preparing for their performance items, I caught the attention of some Primary 5 students who were standing next to me, and took a picture of them. Just like any kid who seldom has the chance to see his/her photographs taken by a digital camera, they crowded around me eagerly as I showed them the picture taken of them.

The performance started! It was the upper primary pupils who performed the opening dance item.

Then it was the lower primary pupils. From their performance, one could observe that they put in a lot of effort and worked really hard to get the dance steps right and natural. It was indeed eye-opening to see such items that were very much different from Singaporean students’ style of stage performances.

After the performance put up by their students, the students were told to go back to their respective classrooms, so that we could go into their classrooms and have a sense of how studying takes place inside.  We were given some time to roam around freely in their school. It was also a chance for me to interact and take pictures with some of the little children.

This is how a typical classroom looks like. The classrooms were made of bricks and furnitures made of wood. Blackboards are used for teaching. School rules, expected behaviours and other wise words can be seen on the walls of the classrooms. Although the conditions may not look very favourable to us,the young children are already more than contented to be given a chance to be in school.

Our Singaporean students having some interaction with the Primary One students. These young pupils impressed us by reciting passages from their textbooks in unison. Some could even recite by memory! I was indeed impressed by their positive attitude and eagerness towards studying.

A little girl looks on as one of our students visited her classroom.

Below are some group shots of the local students that I managed to capture. Apart from a handful who were camera-shy, the rest were more than willing to pose for me.

It is very heart-warming to see these kids having such cheerful outlook. It shows a stark contrast to the ever-unsatisfied behaviours of some of us Singaporeans although we are in a better living condition and have more choices and freedom to do what we want. Some food for thought to ponder indeed.

I wished we could stay a little longer, but time was tight and we had to go. The staff and pupils of 希望小学 waved farewell to us, and we left shortly after taking a group photo.

Although we were there for only about an hour, personally, I feel that it was definitely one of the more memorable highlights of this 7-day trip.  

I’m finally back home after 7 days of Xi’an! I’ve been deprived of running so much so that upon reaching home, I immediately changed into my running attire and did a 4.5 km. Call me crazy, but I seriously felt 100 times healthier after the mid-night run. Had an early supper of instant noodles and gonna retire to bed soon.

Anyway, yesterday’s (Monday) highlight was the visit to 希望小学. Although it was only a short stay before heading to the airport, I enjoyed myself there. Since I’ve not post-processed the pictures yet, I’ll blog about it in more details soon. Meanwhile, here’s a young beauty for you.

One of the primary 1 students in the classroom. She was shy, turning away twice before I successfully took this picture of her. Unfortunately, I couldn’t catch her name.