Award winners are pictured with Jack Ma at the Jack Ma Rural Teacher Award Ceremony in Sanya, a city in South China's Hainan province, on Jan 13. [Photo/IC]

A total of four teachers from schools in rural areas of Inner Mongolia autonomous region were honored at the Jack Ma Rural Teacher Award Ceremony in Sanya, a city in South China's Hainan province, on Jan 13.

With the aim of rewarding teachers' efforts, encouraging innovation, and promoting the quality of rural education, the Jack Ma Rural Teacher Award was set up by Jack Ma, chairman of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. Ma previously worked as an English teacher before starting a tech firm.

The award has now been running for four years, and there are 100 recipients of the honor each year. The four award-winning teachers of Inner Mongolia are Duanmu Xinxin, Liu Quanwei, Liu Yang and Wang Sufang.