After facing his own hardships because of blindness, Mu Mengjie has dedicated the last 20 years to improving opportunities for others with impaired sight

"If you have a sunny heart, there is no fear of darkness." This motto is posted on the wall of a classroom at the Mengjie School for the Blind in Pingxiang county, Xingtai, Hebei province. For the students here - whose degree of sight varies from the partial, to complete loss - it is the right kind of motivation required to confront life's challenges.

In the third grade classroom, Zhang Zhibo, who has finished his last lesson, is still "reading" the book. His hand touches the raised Braille dots and his face carries a happy expression. On the blackboard, four large Chinese characters "Longing for the light" are written in chalk. Reading makes him happy, and also fills him with positivity. Apart from the textbooks, Zhang also likes to do extracurricular reading. Reading - as the motto above suggests - is like a beam of light, giving him the power to overcome the darkness.

After dinner, under the flagpole of the school playground, Wan Yongkang connects a newly purchased microphone to the stereo and his mobile phone, and calls on several students to sing together. Behind him, a line of six students, hands outstretched and clutching the shoulder of the person in front, walk toward the shower room. Those who just suffer from amblyopia - commonly known as "lazy eye" - lead the train of students. The sky gradually darkens, but this does not affect them in the pursuit of their activities.

Not far away, a melodious erhu tune comes from the dark classroom. The schoolteacher Shi Pengqiang is leaning against the classroom wall, holding the erhu, a two-stringed bow musical instrument, and several students sit in their seats. Not to be disturbed by the karaoke under the flagpole, the windows of the classroom are shut. They don't turn on the light, the music lesson in progress just takes place in the dark.

In 1999, Mu Mengjie, in the face of incomparable pressure from his whole family, withdrew all of the savings he had accumulated over the years and built the Mengjing School, offering free admission to the blind. It has been 20 years since he founded the school, and since then, 473 people - made up of teachers and students - have passed through its gates. Here, he has learned self-respect and self-reliance. He lives life with dignity.

"Blind people also need to be able to get a foothold in society, and they must learn a skill. When I was refused admittance to school back then, I took the hardest road. Now, I have the ability to make their life easier," he says.