Li Guilin and Lu Jianfen, teachers at a cliff school for 19 years

There is a primary school built on a cliff in Wushidaqiao Township, Ganluo County, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. The school is surrounded by abysses and the Dadu River flows below. An ordinary couple has taught students at the school for 19 years despite the poor conditions. They are Li Guilin and Lu Jianfen.

Erping Village Primary School is also called the "cliff primary school". It was built on flat ground at the summit of a mountain at an altitude of over 2,800 meters, a site which local people say that only a monkey can climb to. There are 80 Yi ethnic students at the school; of which 17 live halfway up the mountain under the cliff and have to climb a very dangerous stairway to reach the school.

Li Guilin and Lu Jianfen

The 17 students arrive at the school every Monday and leave every Friday accompanied by the couple. The stairway to the school is over 40 meters long. On rainy and snowy days, people can accidentally fall off the cliff trying to climb the stairs.

Fortunately, this kind of safety accident has not happened at Erping Village Primary School despite the extremely dangerous and bad conditions. So far, 189 students in seven batches have graduated from the school. The young people in the village are no longer illiterate and some of them have left the mountain to work elsewhere.