Lessons from the villages

The students, who woke up at 7 am and went to bed at 11 pm every day, lived with the villagers and learned about local culture, worked on the farmland and sold agriculture products.

Speaking about the project, Wang says: "Many parents take their children abroad with an eye on learning about new cultures, but going to rural areas of China offers young students a fresh perspective about their own country, which is a more intellectually rewarding experience.

"And though we have many people from rural areas working in big cities nowadays, there is still a gap between residents of cities and villages.

"You don't really understand rural areas until you go to the villages," he adds.

Zhang Jiayue is one of the students who joined the trip to Xiangxi.

The 15-year-old Shanghai native, who is studying at Shanghai No 3 Girls' High School, typically spends school vacations traveling with her parents.