Study Break (Photo by Sahra Malik)

　　In the quaint Dai village of Galanba, located in Yunnan Province's Xishuangbanna Region, young monks gather to take a break from chanting scripture. It is common for boys of the Dai ethnic minority to enter a Buddhist monastery around the age of 10, where they stay for anywhere from a year to a lifetime to experience the simplicity of monastic life. Their day typically begins at 4am with morning meditations, after which they make their rounds in the town, where villagers fill their alms bowls with food. They eat twice a day at most, with their last meal coming around noon. The rest of the day is spent meditating or taking classes on Buddhist teachings or secular subjects like foreign languages. - Yap Su-Yin