Though a professor at Peking University HSBC Business School, He decided to put his status aside and became a student of Chinese society for the purpose of the book.

And for each topic, He consulted experts in the field to assess the potential research destinations. Also, by going on field trips he found the most representative cases to be included in the book.

Among the field studies, the one about rural education impressed He.

For this study, He first had experts select the rural schools, and then narrowed them down to five to visit in person.

When he arrived at the third school, the Fanjia Primary School in Sichuan province, He immediately knew that this is the most representative one.

At the school, He discerned a kind of healthy, vigorous and all-round development enjoyed by the students, even though most of them came from underprivileged backgrounds.

There, they are encouraged to engage in their hobbies and pursue dreams, which to He is a true embodiment of essential-qualities-oriented education.

He therefore reached the conclusion that China's advanced educational concepts can be found not only in its leading public schools in Beijing and Shanghai, but also in smaller primary schools in the mountains.

He says that he and his team will start preparations and field trips for his second book soon after the Chinese New Year celebrations, and follow the same methodology as the first one.

The book is recommended by Luo in his new year's speech as a must-read and "one of the most important knowledge products of the year".

"All long-term efforts yield miracles, like Sima Qian writing The Records of the Grand Historian and the construction of the Mogao Grottoes. Similar will be the fate of He Fan and his project," says Luo.

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