A group of primary school students in Goujie township of Yunnan province have fun in the poetry class with Kang Yu.[Photo provided to China Daily]

She remembers that the school's headmaster Yu Chunyun asked her a question: "If the children leave, who will be the future of the town?"

Recalling that conversation, she echoes the headmaster's statement: "The town's future will be in the hands of those kids who won't be able to leave the mountains. Their present will decide the town's future."

These children face more problems than just poverty itself. Diseases, which, due to poverty and poor medical conditions, cannot be treated properly, are also a major concern, Kang says.

They have to face other difficulties, such as the lack of parental influence because they leave to work in cities, domestic violence, struggling single parents, and adolescent emotional struggles.

"Compared with poverty and the consequential problems, the bigger difficulty for them is the lack of attention to their inner world," she says. "Confronted with so many difficulties and challenges, how can they still keep their love and curiosity for life?

"For many who will have to stay on the mountain, are they going to love their life as farmers? And when they have kids, can they enjoy the starry nights with them?"