Teachers’ Day recognizes the important work of China’s educators. It’s an opportunity for Chinese schoolchildren to express a meaningful gesture of gratitude to their teachers.
The modern Teachers’ Day was established by the Chinese government in 1985. Though teaching is a historically respected profession in China dating back to Confucius, the government created this holiday in part to reestablish teaching’s prestige after the degradation of intellectual pursuits during the Cultural Revolution.
On the photo above: Students in hanfu show respect to their teachers during a memorial ceremony for Confucius, the greatest educator in ancient China in a middle school in Sanya, South China’s Hainan province.