(XINHUA)

First-grade students practice writing the Chinese character ren, meaning "people," during a ceremony to usher in a new school semester held at the Confucius Temple in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, on September 1.

A group of 320 first graders attended a traditional ritual including back-to-school activities, such as reciting lines from The Analects of Confucius, ringing the "enlightenment bell" and paying tribute to the great Chinese philosopher, to welcome the forthcoming school year.