Weekend Long Read: How Rock-and-Roll Saved a Remote Chinese School

Haiga Elementary, perched midway up Guizhou’s highest peak at an altitude of over 2,500 meters, is often enveloped in mist and rain, embodying isolation both geographically and socially. The school was nearly closed due to its remote location and dwindling enrollment but found rejuvenation through a most unexpected avenue—rock music—which has bestowed upon its “left-behind” children newfound confidence and purpose, despite the challenges of poverty that persist in this rural community[para. 1][para. 2].

For years, Haiga Elementary mirrored the decline of many rural Chinese schools. The village’s poverty—98% of households were officially poor in 2010, with an average annual income of just 1,600 yuan (about $230)—resulted in a lack of teachers and the slow erosion of the student body. Principal Zheng Long, who arrived in 2001, saw infrastructure and prejudice alike: villagers, many still living in thatched huts, valued schooling for boys but often married their daughters off young[para. 3][para. 4][para. 5][para. 6]. Zheng made personal appeals to families, slowly shifting these mindsets and keeping the spirit of the school alive even as its staff and grades dwindled. By 2014, the school had only one official teacher left and a dozen students in preschool and first grade, facing imminent closure. The alternative for local families would have been a 12-kilometer daily trek for their small children—a logistic impossibility for families separated by labor migration[para. 7][para. 8][para. 9][para. 10].

A pivotal shift came in 2015 with a government policy to discourage rural school closures. Zheng returned in 2016, recruited four teachers, and worked tirelessly to restore Haiga to a full six-year elementary school. Their efforts paid off, with the first group of sixth graders graduating in 2019[para. 13][para. 14][para. 15].

In 2016, versatile teacher Gu Ya joined, quickly identifying the children’s reticence, born of family separation and emotional neglect. Experimenting with his guitar, Gu attracted students’ attention and launched a music club, believing music would connect students and teachers and build much-needed self-esteem. Donations brought instruments. By 2018, Haiga had its first five-piece student band; viral videos of their performances drew positive attention nationwide. The band’s rendition of a popular rock song in 2020 was reposted by the original artists. Visits and concerts with known bands followed, including a benefit by New Pants that drew 1.42 million online viewers, cementing Haiga’s stardom as the “Haiga Youth”[para. 17][para. 18][para. 19][para. 20][para. 21][para. 22][para. 23][para. 24].

Haiga’s music program led to media invites, such as the Midi Music Festival and China’s Spring Festival Gala. Gu broadened their impact through a “Song a Week” project, filming performances in the school’s sublime mountain environment. The school’s main building, once a failed tourism project, now houses a professional rehearsal hall, thanks to corporate donations. The band’s music has given students new opportunities: all five members of the latest sixth-grade band were admitted to a city art program, and several former students have reached high school or university, aided by sponsorships[para. 25][para. 26][para. 27][para. 28][para. 29][para. 30].

Yet challenges persist. Principal Zheng is clear-eyed; for most children, an arts career is financially out of reach. While some band members enter the workforce straight from middle school, a few do excel—four graduates entered university this year with external support. Annual farewell concerts—and guitars as graduation gifts—emphasize the value of staying in school[para. 31][para. 32][para. 33][para. 34][para. 35][para. 36].

Even as charity concerts and musical trips provide motivation and exposure, declining enrollment now poses a fresh threat: in 2025, only a handful of first-graders enrolled. Demographic factors and shifting migration patterns may eventually close Haiga Elementary. But, as Gu notes, the power and passion of music have already transformed countless lives[para. 37][para. 38][para. 39].