Deng Yunxiu, 14, a student in Ningyuan county, Hunan province, was excited about starting another summer vacation in July. She'll learn art and music at a local culture center established for children like her — left behind as their parents went to work in big cities. She started learning to draw three years ago at the Dayuanshe Art and Culture Communication Center for Left-Behind Children, which was founded by a couple in 2014.

The couple, Zhou Yan, an artist, and Liu Xiu, a maker of Chinese zithers (guqin), quit their jobs with good pay in Beijing in 2014 and founded the center in Ningyuan, a remote rural area in Hunan.

The couple invested 2 million yuan ($286,324) or the construction of a new building and equipment such as computers, projectors, telescopes, art tools and materials for painting.

In recent years, the couple have invited around 50 teachers and students from different colleges to the center to teach music and art to left-behind children. The center has enrolled 100 kids from 15 nearby villages, Zhou said.

"It's not our purpose to make them artists in the future. We just hope that they will be connected with the environment and the world in some way through art," she said.

A resident of Ningyuan said it was wonderful that kids could learn art for free in such a remote place. He said he is planning to bring his grandson to the center this summer.