Jiangxi rural mother denied education ensures daughters don't miss out

NANCHANG－Deep in the mountains in the midst of the rice paddies of Chongyi county in Jiangxi province, 35-year-old Deng Dinglan is busy preparing schoolbags, stationery and the like for her four 12-year-old daughters, who are about to start sixth grade.

The Shangbao rice terraces, which lie behind the family home, have been cultivated for thousands of years. In 2018, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization recognized the terraces as a globally important agricultural heritage site.

Four girls from one family going to school at the same time would once have been impossible for villagers here, and Deng herself only received primary school education. Her family was so poor when she was a child that they could only afford to educate her younger brother, while Deng and her younger sister were forced to drop out of school to work in the fields until they could find jobs in the neighboring Guangdong province.