"Now, there are more ways out for children, and their ideas and horizons have been greatly broadened," Jamlhan Yantonghan says. "The saying that knowledge can change your fate will never go out of date."

Apart from free transportation and schooling, local education authorities also organize free vacation activities to broaden the students' horizons. Each year, 70 to 100 students from Taxkorgan, especially its remote villages, are taken on a summer camp to Shenzhen, a metropolis in South China, according to Molahabifu, deputy director of Taxkorgan's education bureau.

The children have become more confident and outgoing, says Molahabifu, adding that some are still in touch with their peers in Shenzhen years after the summer camp.