"My dream is to become a teacher when I grow up so I can help teach more people," said Gao Yuyan, a fourth-grader at Longxing Central Primary School in Lushan county, Sichuan province.

Gao made the comment during a class meeting themed "learn to be grateful". The pupils talked about the people to whom they are thankful, including family members, teachers and the kindhearted people who helped them after the magnitude-7.0 Lushan earthquake. They also made thank-you cards by hand.

School buildings were severely damaged in the quake. With the help of the People's Liberation Army, the school built the first "tent school" in the quake-stricken area.

President Xi Jinping visited the school on May 21. He joined a meeting of a fifth-grade class, talked about dreams with the pupils and teachers, and encouraged the pupils to study hard and realize their dreams.

"Grandpa Xi came to visit us even though he was so busy with State affairs. We are all thankful to him. We'll study harder to become people who help our country," one pupil said.

The school was one of 374 that had to be rebuilt or repaired in the city of Ya'an. So far, 315 schools have been repaired.

Longxing Central Primary School was repaired and reinforced by the end of 2013. A kindergarten and a science and technology museum were also built. They opened in February.

"Thanks to help from the government and society, our school has equipment as good as in the city. The teachers also get opportunities to accept professional training," said Wang Zhiqiang, the school president.

"The biggest change is that the pupils learned how to evacuate from the quake," Wang said. The school has an emergency drill every month to teach all pupils to get to the playground within one minute.

Stepping through the school gate, a stone tablet carved with words "Be Grateful" stands in sight. A showcase beside the playground contains more than 100 thank-you notes written by pupils and teachers.

Si Luyu contributed to the story Contact the writers at [email protected]