Huang Juan introduces the ocean and oceanic creatures to local pupils. [Photo by Lin Aihua/ China Daily]

Contributing to the unique design, the refreshing building has been officially selected as one of the 50 habitats for the UN urban think programs, an essential part of the World Urban Campaign, which is trying to better shape the future of urban space.

Villagers and children like to spend time here, and consider the past and the future.

Equipped with books, South yard soon became a popular haunt for "left-behind" children, whose parents went to the city to find work.

"I want to bring an aesthetic education into the countryside, I believe that as long as our kids are led to find the beauty of the nature, they will find the way to love life," said Huang.

Huang loves telling stories to the children and encourages them to explore different kinds of knowledge.

Apart from the education, South yard also works as a platform to attract resources from outside and offers hotel management training to villagers.

"My real purpose is to unite the villagers and lead them to find the way to run their business and bring vitality to the village," she said.

Right now she is trying to establish a tourism society run by farmers so that more villagers could stay at home and make a living.

To make the village more attractive, she is planning an international arts festival which would invite foreign artist to do creations together with the villagers and visitors.

A new home, made from the past, inspires a vision of the future.