An original play praising the spirit of volunteer teachers from Hai'an debuts on Jan 31 at the Hai'an Grand Theatre. [Photo/ntfabu.com]

An inspiring play about the spirit of volunteer teachers from Hai'an – a county-level city administered by Nantong in East China's Jiangsu province – who went out over the decades to help with education in a less fortunate area of the country, has now taken center stage.

Since 1988, a total of 281 Hai'an teachers have volunteered to support education in the Ninglang Yi ethnic autonomous prefecture in Southwest China's Yunnan province.

Their spirit of selfless dedication and enthusiasm for education was recently celebrated in an original play by the Nantong Art Theater Repertory Troupe.

The play, entitled Where Azaleas Bloom, began a tour across Nantong on Jan 31. It was first staged at Hai'an Grand Theatre, winning rapturous applause from the audience.

Among the audience was Li Zhongdong, a Chinese teacher at the Hai'an Lifa Middle School who had six years of voluntary teaching experience in Ninglang, from 2013 to 2019.

"The performance made the past scenes clearly reappear before my eyes. We have devoted our efforts to the children over there, still with so much concern about them," Li said. "The play has great educational significance for our teachers and society as a whole. We must pass on the spirit of supporting education from generation to generation."

With the assistance of teachers like Li, Ninglang has transformed from being a former "lowland area" for education into an education "plateau". In recognition, the volunteer teacher group received the honorary title of "Model of the Times" of Jiangsu in 2020.

Lu Ang, from the Shanghai Theatre Academy, is the play's chief director and Mo Xia from the Shanghai Yue Opera House as the author of the play.