Zhao Jinfei and her students join hands for a team cheer before a basketball game. [Xinhua]

"Come on, pass the ball! Defense, defense," yelled Zhao Jinfei at a men's basketball game during a tournament for the Fifth Special Olympics Games of China. She is a teacher at Xi'an School for Students with Disabilities. "They're all good boys," Zhao said, fixing her eyes on her students playing on the court.

Zhao, a graduate from Xi'an Normal College who majored in preschool education, has been a devoted special education teacher for 14 years. "For the job, the most important things are patience and love," she said. "As long as the students can carry on, in their studies or lives, I feel satisfied and rewarded."

Zhao's favorite student is Liu Peng, who just graduated from college and started working for a disabled people's performing art troupe. Five years ago, Liu was enrolled by the Beijing Science and Technology Vocational Institute, becoming the first college student with intellectual disabilities in northwest China.

"Liu is a talented singer. It took him about two classes to learn a song," Zhao recalled. "Usually, students with intellectual disabilities, who are less concentrated, spend about one month or more to do that."