In June this year, the construction of the Taxkorgan Airport, the highest-altitude airport in Xinjiang, is scheduled to complete, connecting the students to an even wider world.

Wang Lu, who has been teaching in Taxkorgan for 10 years, has noticed that with better education and more opportunities, students in Taxkorgan now dare to dream bigger.

"Ten years ago, most of the children would only think about being a shepherd or getting married and starting a family when talking about future. Now, their dreams have become as colorful as being an athlete, a model, even an astronaut,"Wang says.