Film classes leave imprint on rural pupils

Chen Sifang, a 23-year-old student pursuing a master's degree at Beijing Normal University's School of Arts and Communication, was selected as the main lecturer for the final leg of the monthlong trip. She gave lessons at a school in Xinghai county in southwestern Qinghai province.

Chen recalls when the volunteer lecturers took six hours to travel from Xining to the county, which has an average altitude of 3,900 meters, as the bus approached, they saw clear blue skies, vast grasslands and roaming cattle, making them feel refreshed.

After consulting her fellow volunteers, Chen selected 30 movies, including Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore's The Legend of 1900 and Chinese director Zhang Yimou's My Father and Mother, as coaching materials for nearly 70 local students from three primary schools and two junior middle schools.

Interestingly, Chen found a young girl who said Zhang's movie was her favorite because the romance between the two main characters, a beautiful country woman and a young teacher, was similar to her own parents' love story.