BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- It's television time for Chinese children on the first day of the autumn semester.
With awe-struck mouths wide open and "whoas" echoing in the classroom, students at the No.3 Middle School in the mudslide-hit Zhouqu County of northwest China's Gansu Province were watching an armless boy playing the piano in a TV program.
As instructed by the Ministry of Education (MOE), 220 million primary and middle school students across China started their new term by watching the inspiring television show "My Dream, Chinese Dream" Wednesday.
The program, seeking to promote ambitious goals and a hardworking spirit among students, invited celebrities, including Yuan Longping, a scientist dubbed the "father of hybrid rice," Ma Yun, a self-made Internet business tycoon, movie star Li Lianjie, and disabled piano talent Liu Wei, among others, to share their dreams with the students.
The TV program was jointly produced by the ministry and China Central Television (CCTV) and aired from 9:00-10:40 on Wednesday morning.
"The TV program is hoped to inspire and educate young people to have dreams and work hard to realize them," said Wang Dinghua, an official in charge of primary and middle school affairs with the MOE.
"A person's dream might be small, but when we get together, we will have a very big dream," said Li Lianjie, the action movie star better known to English-speaking audiences as Jet Li, when delivering a speech in the program.
He hoped that children across the country would uphold their personal dreams with one hand and the nation's dream with the other.
"It's ok to change dreams when you are young. What you need to do is to always think about them... think about all the happy things," said Ma Yun, also CEO of Alibaba Networking Technology Co.
"But a dream always comes with tears and sweat. Without them, a dream is only a fantasy," he added.
After watching the TV program, class meetings were held in many schools to discuss students' dreams and the Chinese dream.
"These children are the hope of Zhouqu... With them, Zhouqu will have a wonderful future," said Ning Linsheng, director of the junior high first grade at the county's No. 3 Middle School.
A devastating mudslide hit Zhouqu Aug. 8, ripping many houses from their foundations and tearing multi-story apartment buildings in half.
The Chinese government has pledged to complete the reconstruction of all homes destroyed in the disaster by June next year.
"I was so touched when I saw many policemen were helping people after the disaster. That's when I secretly made up my mind to be a policeman," said student Wang Honglin.
Four boys at the back of the classroom said they have the same dream of being a soldier. "Because soldiers are always rushing at the forefront during disasters. They are the bravest men!"
Shi Xiujie, a 12-year-old student from Yuhuatai Primary School in the eastern city of Nanjing, said "My dream is to be a teacher. I will teach my students how to protect themselves in disasters like the mudslide in Zhouqu."
Zhang Xu, another student in Nanjing, said his dream was to create an IT firm like Microsoft because, "China needs to have its own operating system, like Windows."
Yan Feng, a professor with the Chinese Language and Literature Department of the Shanghai-based Fudan University, noted that the television program is one of many efforts the country has made in promoting spiritual civilization, patriotism and Chinese culture.
"In the past few years, China has had huge achievements in its economic development, but there are some problems among people's spiritual needs," Yan said, adding that the program was an education on idealism and faith.
Xu Wenguang, vice director of the program department at CCTV Channel One, said that the program aimed to let children know that everyone can be a dreamer and they all need dreams to guide them in every phase of their lives.
"Dreams need sustaining efforts and exploration. Dreams of each one of us put together will be our country's dream," Xu said.
Chinese students had their first national TV class in 2008.
In that year, students were given tips on how to survive a natural disaster. In 2009, students were taught to love their home, friends and motherland.
During Wednesday's program, all the students at the Zhouqu No.3 Middle School stood up to pay tribute to Han Xuan, once a student at a primary school in the county.
Han was among the thousands of people listed as dead or missing in the mudslide.
Her dream of being a teacher was made known to hundreds of millions of students nationwide as the hostess told her story, though often overcome by her emotions.
"A dream is something that can be passed on. I will try hard to realize my dream of being a teacher. For myself and for Han Xuan," student Liu Zhengjun said.
