"Shan...Hai...Yu...Xian..." Clear pronunciations of Chinese characters could be heard coming from the culture auditorium in Qiujiashan Village, Ningbo City. A group of older Chinese with reading glasses were sitting upright and earnestly reading out the characters in their Ningbo dialect, and passersby hearing them knew they belonged to the literacy class for seniors in the neighbourhood.

Qiu Xiaoying is the oldest in the class. On the first day, the 81-year-old grandmother took a seat in the front row. Recalling the first class, Grandma Qiu remembers clearly her fear of being too old to understand or remember anything. “I sat in the front row so I could follow the teacher and write down everything on the blackboard."

She grew up in a large poor family which could not afford to send her to school. She acknowledges that her illiteracy has led to many challenges. When she goes shopping, she can’t read the price tags, and has to ask others to do it for her. She is obliged to ask for help to read bus signs, and always visits the doctor in the company of her husband or children. Now, in this literacy class, she is realising her dream of being able to read and write. Her goal is to learn to write her name and address, and be able to find her way.

Most of the village residents are indigenous, and for historical reasons many of the seniors are illiterate. After the rebuilding of the old city, this caused them a good deal of inconvenience, and this is why Xiangshan Community College launched its literacy class in September 2014. More than 40 seniors, with an average age of over 65, cherished the opportunity to take the class, arriving early to fill the conference room.

Granny Qiu's focus in the first class deeply impressed Zhang Yinyan, vice president of Xiangshan Community College, who was inspired to take her picture. The photos of her first day at school were published in Public Photography, a national photography magazine, and have moved many readers.

After 10 days of classes, Grandma Qiu was granted a Certificate of Literacy bearing her photo and a red seal. A smile came to her face as she examined the certificate. Her son, himself turning grey, gave his mother a thumbs-up. According to him, the whole family is supporting her studies. "My mother reads and writes at the window every day, like a young student. She works very hard," he said.

Her granddaughter, a graduate of a renowned university in China, said, "Every time my grandma sees us at a family gathering, she asks about our studies. She wants us to keep pursuing them, and to grow by learning!"

By Ningbo OU