Movie gives a glimpse of life in a mainland classroom, teaches local students appreciation
Afilm shown by St Mary's Canossian College Past Students' Association to raise funds for the school has given students a glimpse of life in a mainland school.
Funds raised will go towards the purchase of educational equipment, the decoration of the English Learning Centre and to promote student welfare and cultural exchanges.
Directed by Zhang Yimou, the movie Not One Less tells the story of Wei Minzhi, a 13-year-old substitute teacher in a poor village. Minzhi sets off for the big city in search of one of her students, Zhang Huike, who has been forced to find work because his family is in serious financial trouble.
But Minzhi is determined not to let another of her students drop out while the regular teacher is away.
'The school in the film is very simple and crude,' second former Florence Tang Pui-ki, 14, said after watching the film.
'They didn't even have very basic things like chalk or copy books, which we take for granted.
Modern facilities
'With our air-conditioned campuses and hi-tech facilities, we are in paradise,' Pui-ki said.
Vivan Li Hei-man, eight, who came with her mother, agreed that the movie had been an eye- opener. 'People who live in big cities with all modern facilities, don't appreciate what they have because they have never been poor and they take everything for granted,' Hei-man said.
The film was chosen because it could make people, who live in a cosmopolitan place like Hong Kong, understand just how lucky they really were.
Association chairman Alice Lam Yin-mi said: 'We wanted our students to know what the needs of the less fortunate and conditions in undeveloped cities are really like.'
Principal Sister Bernadette Au Yee-ting said: 'It's about co-operation within the school and among teachers, parents and students facing a reformation in education.'
