Ma himself dragged his first students to school from their bedrooms. Speaking of the school, there were no classrooms when he first arrived.

"He set up planks as tables in a cowshed during the day when the cows were herded outside," said Ma Jinqiang, Ma Zhongyu's eldest son.

The village teacher had to be a master of many abilities. Ma Zhongyu learned to build houses, repair roofs, cut glass into small pieces and weave bamboo baskets.

In his spare time, Ma picked herbs in the mountains with his students. He washed and dried the herbs and sold them at markets in neighboring Gansu province. If he was lucky, he could earn one yuan and bought stationary for the students.