Zhongdong Cave School

Guizhou is one of the poorest provinces in China. Water and food shortages due to massive desertification and drought have left the region often struggling to keep its people alive. Despite these shortcomings, the Miao people of southern Guizhou made the best of their situation by opening an elementary school in a cave, aptly named Mid Cave Primary School. The school opened in 1984, and at its peak employed eight teachers who taught 186 students who would otherwise have no education.