FUZHOU/LANZHOU, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Hou Qianqian, a fifth grader in a remote county in northwest China's Gansu Province, felt too shy to look into her new teacher's eyes during a livestream class in Fuzhou, a coastal city about 2,500 km away.

Now after three weeks, she is obsessed with online study. "It feels like the teacher is giving a lesson especially for me," she said.

Distance learning was a rare scene for students like Hou in China's rural areas but has now become their daily routine as online education is encouraged amid the novel coronavirus outbreak to avoid large crowds in class.

Gulou, a county-level district of Fuzhou, capital of eastern China's Fujian Province, began on Feb. 10 offering livestream classes to over 60,000 elementary school students in the district, as well as 8,000 students from several less-developed rural counties.

In 2017, Gulou paired up with Gansu's Min County as part of a nationwide effort to help impoverished rural residents rid themselves of poverty. They have hence conducted deep cooperation in education.

The online classes over the past week began with a five-minute video clip, in which Wu Xintao, a renowned Chinese scientist in structure chemistry, explained to students the novel coronavirus outbreak the country is undergoing. Wu also encouraged students to work harder as their part to help the country tide over the difficulties.

"We offer online classes on the Chinese language, mathematics and English, with each lesson lasting about 20 minutes as per the advice from ophthalmologists," said Ye Yuxin, an official with the local education bureau in Gulou.

Ye said a total of 152 elite teachers from the district take turns to give livestreaming lectures to ensure the quality of classes for students.

He Caiming, a veteran teacher with 30 years of experience, suffered from stagefright before his first livestreaming. "It's my first time to give classes to over 10,000 students at the same time, and I was quite upset," said He. "I dare not make a single mistake because the video can be replayed again and again. I spent three days preparing for the class and rehearsed at least three times in advance."

Considering that rural families do not have large-screen computers and tablets, the teachers enlarged the fonts on their presentations and focused the courses on basic knowledge required on the syllabus.

Their hard work has paid off. Fascinated by the English teacher's authentic pronunciation, Hou developed a strong interest in English.

Bao Yafen, Hou's English teacher in Gansu, was impressed with the large educational gap between the coastal provinces and Gansu. "Every classroom in Gulou District is equipped with a piano and an interactive whiteboard, but in Gansu, we are still short of teachers in some areas," said Bao.

"The teachers in Gulou are well prepared for the class. They have very good teaching skills and very original pronunciation in English. More importantly, they also integrate the knowledge of prevention and control of the virus into the courses, which is very inspiring," said Bao.

Encouraged by her coastal colleagues, Bao plucked up and recorded a 75-minute video of herself teaching in class.

"Online courses have given teachers from both the cities and rural areas the same opportunities to learn and improve," said Jin Liang, a Chinese language teacher in Gulou. "I feel like an internet celebrity now."

"I can't wait to begin my second livestreaming class. I'm sure this time I can do much better," said Jin.