Devotion works

Her encouragement seemed to work wonders. Even more students began to hand in their homework, and studied much harder than before, as they didn't want to "let their favorite teacher down".For instance, some pointed out that no teacher had ever cared about where they had dinner during the weekends.

Li says she believes in the strength of "the devoted style of teaching and schooling". "Compared with knowledge, the students are more eager for an emotional connection and the feeling of being cared for," says Li.

Guo Yanhong, a student of Li, came to her office almost every day and asked Li to check his homework or explain problems. Sometimes he even seemed to be quite happy if Li criticized him for making mistakes.

By talking to Guo, Li got to know his mother had left home when he was young, and his father migrated to faraway places for work, leaving the boy at home to live on the money his father transferred to him regularly.

One day, when Li was examining Guo's homework, she saw a wound on his hand, and reminded him to dress it to prevent infection. Her caring words hit Guo hard. He later wrote in an essay that he turned around and burst into a flood of tears upon hearing Li's words.

"After reading his composition, I thought it was too exaggerated. How can someone be moved so much by such simple words? So I reminded my students not to fake emotions in their compositions and that they need to express their true feelings," says Li.

But at her last class at Hanji school, when she asked if any student wanted to say something to her, Guo put up his hand first and said: "Ms Li, I didn't fake my emotions in the composition. All that I wrote was true. Maybe you thought what you said were simple words, but for me, who has never received much care, you were just like my mother in that moment."

Li still feels regret for her misunderstanding of Guo.

"Guo made me understand that I should pay more attention to my way of talking to students, since a teacher's words can be really influential," she says.

"I have met too many children like Guo at the Hanji school. They are fragile enough to be moved by simple words, but they are also tough enough to bear all the bitterness."