While most Chinese students have already gone on winter holiday, some from Jinshan primary school still go to school at 2 pm every workday for a two-hour martial arts training.
The school is located in Danzhai county, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong autonomous prefecture in Southwest China's Guizhou province, an area that is impoverished.
On a normal day in Jinshan, 38 students practice different movements with different martial arts props on the football field, and improvisation of cudgel play by 12-year-old Wei Jinfu got full house cheer.
"I've been learning martial arts for five years, in which I am extremely interested," said Wei, who often got sick before but has become physically healthier due to learning martial arts.
Wang Shaobang, 48, headmaster and martial arts coach of the school, told Xinhua that those students practicing together were preparing for a martial arts show for the upcoming Chinese New Year.
"All the students have been learning martial arts for at least three years and they are invited by the local government to perform at the show for the Spring Festival celebration," he said.
Wang was the man who brought martial arts into the school program in 2014. "In that year, China was speeding up the introduction of the Chinese ethnic cultures including opera, music, woodcarving, paper-cutting, and calligraphy into schools, and I introduced martial arts just because I hoped more students would love martial arts and improve their bodies," he said.
According to the department of education of Guizhou, there are a total of more than 5,000 schools offering the education of Chinese ethnic cultures.
Jinshan school has a total of 311 students, 98 percent among whom are from Miao ethnic groups. They all have learned martial arts and are trained for free by the school in the summer and winter holidays.
Wang said more than half of the students are left-behind children and they want to spend more time with each other on holidays through martial arts training at school.
"Children living in impoverished areas are commonly short-spoken and unsociable," he added, with martial arts not only toughening them up but also sharpening their will as well as giving them confidence through attending and winning various martial arts competitions.
Chen Ziyi, a 12-year-old left-behind child who lives with grandparents, has become outgoing and confident since she began learning martial arts three years ago. "Martial arts makes me stronger and my parents always encourage me to keep going on."
Chen Sinan, another student who has comparatively mastered high-level skills of sabreplay and swordplay after three years of learning, said that martial arts helps to keep her focused.
"When performing martial arts, I need to focus on the coherence of a series of movements, which makes me concentrate on whatever I am doing," Chen said.
