On July 25, a school in southwest China’s Guizhouprovince became an online sensation. Children from Chahe Primary School, deep in the mountains of Bijie County, gave a live-streamed rock concert, gaining 850,000 views.
Ever since then, the entire country has been captivated by how these children in the mountain village are pursuing their musical dreams.
The resulting 850,000 views was the direct result of the promotional efforts of Wu Jianlin, director of a public service center in Guizhou province.
On previous visits, Wu Jianlin had been deeply moved by the eager look in the children’s eyes when they saw musical instruments. Buying the instruments for the children was the easy part, but finding a teacher was a different story.
“We tried to recruit college students for volunteer work, but it just didn’t work,” said Wu, adding that a candidate teacher would have be willing to stay in the mountainous area for at least one to two years.
“We had asked a lot of people, but they were unwilling to teach for a long period of time,” Wu pointed out. Luckily, Wu was finally able to find a full-time music teacher for the students.
Wu has been focusing on promoting music education projects in village primary schools for the last three years. Over the years, he has visited village primary schools in other provinces. The lack of arts education in these regions has made him be determined to provide “music classes in the mountains”.
After the success of the live-streamed rock concert, more students in mountainous areas are now aspiring to become musicians.
“This is the situation in most mountain villages. If there is no help, maybe these children really don’t have a chance to get access to music. But if someone is willing to promote this effort, it impacts a group of children,” Wu pointed out.
Wu’s ultimate goal is to give every child access to arts education from an early age.
“Dreams should not be clouded by mountains,” said Wu Jianlin.
Source: People’s Daily Online
