YOUTH-RHYTHMICS: Drummer Yang Boxiang (front right) and other members of the student orchestra rehearse Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star with conductor Xiong Feng (left), a flute major at Beijing-based Central Conservatory of Music, on August 31 (CHEN RAN)

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The melody of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star floated from Duancun Township in north China's Hebei Province. More than 40 pupils were playing orchestral instruments in accompaniment of choir peers at the inauguration ceremony of their new campus on September 28.

Each performer, aged between 7 and 11, revealed a sense of professionalism no different to one in any world-class orchestra, although their technique still needs refinement. Standing alongside were volunteer teachers supported by Hefeng Art Foundation from Beijing, some 150 km away, who have visited every weekend since March to offer free classes in the arts.

When the song finished, the applause was deafening. Six months of learning had clearly paid off.

Dream a little dream

Covering an area of 20,000 square meters, the new Duancun School campus has combined three local elementary schools—Dongdi, Xidi and Henancun—into one, benefiting some 1,000 pupils.

Li Feng has been working on the new campus since 2011 and is the founder of Hefeng Art Foundation, the country's first private foundation aimed at providing arts education, popularization and promotion. The 50-something businessman has loved the arts since childhood and believes in them strongly.

"I think the arts are particularly useful in helping with poverty alleviation in developing countries like China, which has a large rural population," Li told Beijing Review. "I believe that the spiritual power of the arts can act as a social remedy or tool to be used against poverty."

That was the starting point for the foundation. One such project involved free weekend arts classes focusing on ballet, musical instruments, drama, choir singing and painting as a complement to the school curriculum in Duancun, the hometown of Li's father.

"I think arts education can bring self-confidence and a sense of pride to rural children, which they didn't have in the past," Li said. "In fact, there is little difference between children in rural and urban areas. The only problem is the difference in educational resources available to each group. Children in rural areas have far less access to any form of arts education."

Due to a shortage of teachers, there were no arts classes available for some 600 pupils in Duancun before March.

The volunteer teachers the foundation invited all came from well-respected national-level arts institutions in Beijing, such as the Central Conservatory of Music, the Central Academy of Drama, the China Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Beijing Dance Academy. They also helped initiate teaching plans for local elementary schools.

Life-changing symphony

In June 2012, Hefeng Art Foundation launched a ballet training center at Duancun. It also finished recruitment for the children's choir and orchestra within six months. All five arts classes opened this spring.

Li's memories of orchestra recruitment remain fresh. The children were surprised and curious about the instruments, which seemed unobtainable and had nothing to do with their usual routine.

"That scene had so much contrast. It represented two completely different walks of life. The kids were all from rural families and they were looking at these symbols of refinement and class," Li recalled.

"But I saw the sense of accomplishment and pride in their eyes as soon as they could play. They were all eager to share their joy with others," he continued.

Drummer Yang Boxiang was the shining star of the orchestra. The sixth-grade pupil topped the percussion class, with his mother Feng Yuehong, 42, listening in and making notes to guide his practice back home.

"My son has such a wonderful teacher and the chance to learn music thanks to Hefeng Art Foundation," Feng told Beijing Review. "Before learning music, he either watched TV or played video games after school. It is great to see him finally learning something useful."