According to Yang, parents are firmly supportive of compulsory education now, compared with years ago when many didn't seem to care much about their children's education.

Student unions, a football club, and other groups have been established by volunteers to enrich students' life. The university has also donated more than 10 million yuan ($1.55 million) for the construction of basic educational facilities and provision of teaching materials over the past 22 years.

"I will study hard for an admission to university and become excellent just like my volunteer teachers from Shanghai," says Li Sumei, a student from Sanhe Middle School in Xiji.

This sentiment was echoed by Yang Yan, a postgraduate in pharmacy at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, who grew up in the once poverty-stricken Eryuan county, in Dali, Yunnan province, where 65 postgraduates from the same university have assisted in teaching children there since 2012.

Thanks to the care from the volunteers in her life and study, Yang was admitted to the university when she became first ranked in Eryuan during the college entrance examination six years ago.

Motivated by gratitude, Yang has been an enthusiast of volunteer activities, like teaching children of migrant workers in the city, to give back to the community.

She volunteered to teach biology in Luzhai county, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, in 2019, sharing the latest scientific knowledge with children in class and donating daily supplies like medicated soaps and herbal foot soak ingredients. She says she hoped to motivate children that came from a similar background as her.

The care and love from volunteers in Shanghai for children in less-developed areas continued even when the COVID-19 pandemic caused widespread disruption to education across the country last year.