Alternative teaching aims to cultivate creativity, personality and emotional intelligence, Deng Zhangyu reports.

In 2006, Zhang Dongqing decided to home-school her little girl and with three other families, she rented an apartment where she would teach their children. After eight years, the education pioneer is proud of the growing number of families that have embraced her educational concept.

Fruit trees in Beijing's suburbs surround the redbrick buildings that house Ririxin School. On the football field kids chase each other. Three boys look for insects in the grass while a girl draws a picture of fruit trees in the distance.