Yunan Province, China (BBN)-An armless man has won respect from Chinese web users for bringing knowledge and hope to a remote mountainous village despite his disability.
Jiang Shengfa, 41, has been the substitute teacher at Anle Primary School in Chang'an Village, Yunan Province, for a dozen of years, reports The Daily Mail.
In a place where young people refuse to work and live, the strong-willed man straps chalk to his limb and uses his mouth to flip books in order to teach a class of around 40 pupils, reported People's Daily Online.
Jiang lost both arms in an electric shock accident while he was helping neighbours fix high-voltage wires in 1996.
The man had been a teacher in Chinese Language for more than two decades before that.
In 2003, the Anle Primary School, which is located in a mountainous village in the province of Yunnan, was looking for a teacher.
Due to its remote location and underprivileged living conditions, the village had a hard time recruiting faculty.
Jiang told People's Daily: 'The village is very poor. No teachers are willing to move here.
'All young and educated people in the village are leaving to find work elsewhere. I see the children might lose the rights of education.'
So local authorities turned to Jiang for help asking him to be a substitute teacher.
The selfless man, who had already retired at the time, not only agreed but also turned the temporary job offer into a decade long devotion.
Double-amputated Jiang has trained himself to use his mouth and what is left of his arms to teach eager pupils from Chang'an village.
Recent photographs of Jiang on Chinese media show the 5ft 8in man, who always wears a suit in class, strapping chalk on his severed limb to write on the blackboard and turning book pages with his mouth.
In addition, the determined educator walks five miles a day for work on steep muddy roads.
Impressively, Jiang has also managed to master Chinese calligraphy with his limb.
Chinese web users have given a big round applause to the devoted man.
One user posted on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent to Twitter: 'Such good writing! Admirable and respectable!'
Another one commented: 'We should look at this teacher when we are frustrated. There is nothing too bad in our lives.'
Fortunately, the Chinese education authority has also realised the incredible effort Mr Jiang spends on bringing knowledge to poverty-stricken youngsters, who will otherwise face a difficult future.
He has received numerous awards in recent years, including the 'Candle Light Award' from China Youth Development Foundation.
BBN/SK/AD