Speaking about his fondness for rural areas, he says: "I understand the transition of life from an underdeveloped region to a metropolitan city. People's mindsets change when their environments change. So, when I meet people, I love to listen to their stories."

Wang, who had volunteered to teach in remote villages in provinces such as Yunnan and Guizhou as a college student. says he found that life in Shanghai's suburban villages was much different from the village he worked in.

"These villages are isolated from the outside world. And the local culture of each village is unique," he says.

For example, he says that when he took the students to Xiangxi, they watched Nuoxi, a thousand-year-old local folk opera popular in southern China, where performers wear heavy costumes and thick masks to symbolize the gods.

Nuoxi was once widely performed in China as a ritual to end natural disasters, the spread of disease, or to encourage good harvests and longevity.

Common goals

Wang's goal is to take 1,000 Chinese students to rural villages over the space of two years.

This summer, he plans to take students to the villages of Heze, in East China's Shandong province.