September 10 is China's Teachers' Day, and a heartwarming story about a student and her teacher in southwest China's Sichuan Province is moving many people online.

When Zhang Zheng was eight, she had no relatives to rely on. The child lived alone in her family's modest tiled house. "I was always scared at night, so I kept a cleaver by my bed."

That was until her primary school teacher, Jiang Xianfang, asked her: "Would you like to come home with me?" That one question changed the girl's life.

From age 10 to 18, Zhang Zheng lived with Jiang's family. Two months after moving in, Zhang started calling her "mom."

This summer, Zhang scored 598 on the national college entrance examination, known as the gaokao, and was admitted to Sichuan Normal University as a government-funded student. She aims to return to her hometown to devote herself to education after graduation. She said: "I want to hold more children's hands, just as my teacher once held mine."