As a tour operator, I travel a lot year round. Recently I made a trip to the mountainous area close TO the famous Shangri-la, what I encountered there appalled me and moved me immediately into tears.

From Lijiang it took almost two hours to drive through the bumpy and precipitous mountain road which I later knew would be closed whenever there was rain. Several villages could be seen scattered in the remote valleys lined by pine trees and red earth. It was the view of Shangri-la. Yet it was not as the SUV drove closer to one of the village school.

Everything there was not what a spoiled child in the city could imagine. The playground was actually an open ground with two wood-made basketball stands, one completely collapsed, and another was falling down. In one of the dark, shabby classroom, we found a leaning one piece wood blackboard against the wall. As it was so often used with chalks, words written on it were not very easily recognizable. Several kids aged 7 to 12 were boarding in the school and they were supposed to cook their own food in the simplest way on the ground. No kids knew what internet was. No kids knew what telephone was. No kids knew what a nice meal in a restaurant meant. They all wanted to continue their study, yet poverty-stricken as it was, the family could no longer sustain their wishes to continue their studies.

Led by the school masters, we visited some families in the village. There was a gnawing pain from what I observed. We stopped in the courtyard of Mei's family. It was like most families in the village. On the ground in the middle room, we found a pile of fire the family used to cook and Mei's books were neatly on the small chair by the fire. To the right side, the living room was very dark, under the flashlight of the camera, I found the shabbiest room with nothing inside, but a small bed, which would be slept as I was told later by two or three people. The so-called house was made with clay from the fields and I could see holes almost from anywhere. Sitting on the low benches in the courtyard with Mei and her mom, we learned that Mei had two sisters, who had to quit their study and work in a nearby town. Now Mei was in fifth grade and was one of the best students in the class. Yet her mom had reluctantly told her that she also had to quit her study as the family could barely support the living let alone her studying in the high school. Mei's eyes were all tears when she mentioned this, and we all felt the warm liquid in our own eyes. She sobbed in front of everyone " I like study, I want to study, I will do my best ". That is what I firmly believe what she will do. She did not beg for help. She did not beg for sponsor. She is only trying to prove to the world that she could be a good student.

Even now, there is no telephone in the village, and there is no television in any of the families.