It may be -17C outside in the freezing cold in the city of Changchun, Jilin province, but 14-year-old Kong Yuanyue and her sister, Kong Yuanfang, who is a year younger are snug in their warm apartment and working on school assignments, thanks to their mother's contribution.

The Kong sisters practicing on a guzheng, a Chinese zither. [Photo by Wang Haofei/Xinhua]

Zhang Ronghua, who is 37-year-old, comes from a small town in the rural middle part of Jilin, but decided to move to the big city to work as a housemaid 8 years ago to give her daughters a better life in a bigger social arena and rented the 100-square-meter apartment close to her daughters' school two years ago.

The sisters expounding on Dream of the Red Chamber, one of China's most famous classic novels. [Photo by Wang Haofei/Xinhua]

The single mother says she has high hopes for the girls and has saved every penny she has to put toward their education in spite of the fact that she earns only 3,000 yuan ($456) a month. And, she feels that it has paid off since the two have been accepted by a top local middle school because of their academic record, and they have shown a talent for music.

Kong Yueyuan(R) helping her youngor sister with her homework.

In turn, the sisters say they have a goal of getting into either Peking or Tsinghua University, two of China's most famous, and that they want to buy an apartment and a car for their mom in Changchun.

The Kong sisters showing their affection for their mom, on Jan 19.

The government reports that there are many other diligent, hard-working migrant laborers like Zhang Zhihua, who hope to be become a regular, accepted part of urban life one day and who certainly deserve people's respect.