The Jack Ma Rural Teachers Award winners from Gansu province pose for a group photo with Jack Ma (7th R). [Photo/ Lanzhou Evening News]

The first awards ceremony of the Jack Ma Rural Teachers Award program, founded by e-commerce tycoon Jack Ma, was held in Sanya, a tourism resort in Hainan province on Jan 17, with 15 teachers from Gansu province winning awards.

There were100 winners in total, including rural teachers from Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan provinces in southwest China, northwest China's Shaanxi province and Ningxia Hui autonomous region. Each winner received an award of 100,000 yuan ($15,200).

Gansu teachers attend the awards ceremony of the Jack Ma Rural Teachers Award program. [Photo/ Lanzhou Evening News]

Jack Ma, chairman of e-commerce giant Alibaba, was a teacher for six years. He said that his success can be attributed to his teaching experience to some extent.

The Jack Ma Rural Teachers Award program was established to support rural education. As Ma said during the activity, "Rural education plays a significant role in China's social development. More than 3 million rural teachers directly influence around 40 million rural children who will have immeasurable impact on China in the future."

Gansu rural teachers sing together with Na Ying (middle), a popular singer, during the awards ceremony. [Photo/ Lanzhou Evening News]

The Gansu teachers' singing performance won the first prize in the "the voice of rural teachers" competition and received the Gold-microphone Award.

Lanzhou Evening News, a local newspaper in Lanzhou, capital of Gansu, won the award of "best cooperative partner" due to its positive participation.

Edited by Peter Nordlinger