Zhang Zhanliang, 45, is the headmaster of Huangni Primary School, which is located in Yingtan City of Yuhuai District in East China’s Jiangxi province. He is well-known on Chinese social media for his father-like love toward his school and his students.

Zhang, who was born in a poverty-stricken family, had a miserable childhood. After his father passed away when he was in the third grade, Zhang was inspired by a teacher couple and decided to study to become a teacher.

There are only 25 students at the village primary school where he teaches and most of them are left-behind children, that is, children whose parents are working far away from home in urban areas. It is also common for some migrant workers to bring their children with them, which leads to even fewer students in rural primary schools.

In Yuhuai, there are13,000 left-behind children, of which, 9,653 of them are students, according to Zhang Shulan, the deputy director of the district’s education and sports bureau.

Like many left-behind children in China, it is very inconvenient for the students to have a meal at home, because of the long distance from school, as well as the heavy household duties that the grandparents watching them have to deal with, so Zhang cooks nutritious meals for them.

“We only have a pot and a cooking bench for meals. I just hope to fill some of their emptiness,” Zhang said.

Zhang posts videos on social media named “Happy Class” in order to record the children’s life. His videos have drawn some 170,000 people to the situation of left-behind children, but he also hopes they will provide comfort to the children’s parents.