Local sages

Yan said new ways need to be explored to build up a system that will produce a "self-sufficient" system of teaching in villages. "Cultivating new-style village sages who are respected by the villagers might be a good way," he said.

Zhao Jieping, a retired primary school teacher, is famous in Sandefan village because he took care of his mentally disabled younger sister for two decades. The villagers have selected the 67-year-old retired primary school teacher to assess the qualities of candidates for the roles of local sages.

"The villagers respect and trust Zhao, so his opinion will influence them substantially," said Zhang Jiang, the village head.

In the deep winter, the Confucius Classroom at Sandefan village was a little chilly, but several elderly men were writing Spring Festival couplets for villagers as China's most-popular annual holiday approached.

The influence of Confucius was evident in most of them, but most especially in the one that carried one of the best-known maxims of the ancient sage: "Great virtue can carry all things".