Mountains echo to the sound of music

She may not be another Maria and her charges are nothing like the seven von Trapp children, but a young teacher is bringing the sound of music to children in a mountainous region of China.

Yin Li, 25, is in charge of nursery classes for 4 to 7 year olds at Zhaojiagou Joint School on the 1,632-meter-high Cuifeng Mountain in Hequ county, Shanxi province.

She has taught at the school since graduating from the Music Institute of Xinzhou Normal College in Shanxi in 2010 and also takes charge of music classes for first- to sixth-graders.

Cultural lives in mountainous areas are not rich, and students occasionally sing songs passed on by the elderly, which are not really suitable. Yin teaches children's songs to her pupils and they enjoy singing them.

Yin married during last month's national day holiday but can only get together with her husband three or four times a month because they do not work in the same place.

"When the mountain was sealed by snow in winter, I could not see my family for more than one month and my parents-in-law may not be happy with that," said Yin.

"I feel wronged when thinking about it, but I have a deep felling for my students after nearly five years' work here".

Yin Li teaches songs to kindergarten pupils at Zhaojiagou Joint School in Hequ county, Shanxi province, Nov 4, 2014. [Photo/IC]