A class of their own

"I can still recall that I cried at night in the dormitory because I couldn't do the movements my teachers taught me during the classes perfectly. I was the oldest child in the class and I wanted to be the best one," says Yao. "It was also very hard for a 14-year-old girl to leave her home and family. Everything was totally new to me then."

Yao was not alone. She was one of 24 children, with an average age of 11, selected from around the country to study Chinese folk dance at Beijing Dance Academy.

The idea for the class, known as "Fuzhou class", was proposed by President Xi Jinping, who at the time was the secretary of the Communist Party of China Fuzhou Municipal Committee. The goal of launching the class was to turn the children into professional dancers who, after the four-year-long program, would be assigned to work at Fuzhou Song and Dance Troupe to create dance works, popularize Chinese folk dance among local people as well as playing an important role in Fuzhou's art education. As well as Chinese folk dance, students also learned Chinese classical dance and ballet.