MILLION61 Number of Children Left Behind in China
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INTERNATIONAL Globalization • Migration • Map Skills CHINA’S LEFT-BEHIND MILLION61 Number of children left behind in China Clockwise from top left: In rural China, left-behind children CHILDREN attend school; millions of the In a nation on the rise, a booming economy is tearing millions of workers away kids don’t have anyone to help from their families. What can be done to help a generation of kids growing up them with their homework; a boy ? BY BROOKE ROSS uses a computer to talk with his without their parents parents, who live and work in a Chinese city; many of these kids are raised by their grandparents. EEP IN RURAL CHINA, largest in the world. Yuwen sees them Although children face serious YUWEN TANG, 12, shares a only two or three times a year. risks growing up without their par- Done-room apartment with his “I know it is hard for Mom and Dad ents, including abuse and depression, grandmother, younger brother, and to earn money,” he recently told the many Chinese feel they have no two cousins. There isn’t much pri- BBC. “But I miss them so much. It’s choice but to leave their kids behind. vacy; the family bathes in a metal tub very painful.” Why? Doing so allows their children on the floor and shares a toilet with Yuwen, along with his brother and to stay in school. While rural migrants neighbors. Yuwen is constantly sur- cousins, are part of what’s known are free to work in China’s booming rounded by people—except for the as China’s “left-behind” generation: cities, they and their families are two he misses most: his mom and dad. children who live in rural areas while not allowed to access government Yuwen’s parents live in the city of one or both of their parents live and services there. That includes public Chengdu, several hours away from his work in China’s cities. (Urban areas school and health care. home in southwest China’s Sichuan are often the only place to find jobs in “Left-behind children are one province. They work in a textile the Asian nation.) According to rough of China’s best-kept secrets,” says factory, churning out the kinds of estimates, about 61 million left-behind Kam Wing Chan, a geography products that have helped transform children live in China—one-fifth of all professor at the University of WANG HE/ASIAPAC/GETTY IMAGES (CLASSROOM); HE DONGPING/MAGINECHINA (BOY DOING HOMEWORK); TOP PHOTO CORPORATION/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK (KIDS ON COMPUTER); THE WASHINGTON POST/GETTY IMAGES (GRANDPARENT AND CHILD) China’s economy into the second- kids in the country. Washington and an expert on 12 JUNIOR.SCHOLASTIC.COM • SEPTEMBER 5, 2016 SEPTEMBER 5, 2016 • JUNIOR.SCHOLASTIC.COM 13 INTERNATIONAL (hoo-koh) system. Established in 1958 Most parents of left-behind under Communist ruler Mao Zedong LEFT-BEHIND CHILDREN children work in city factories (1893-1976), the hukou system clas- producing everything from sifies all citizens as rural or urban. It BY THE NUMBERS stuffed animals (right) to allows residents to work anywhere McDonald’s Happy Meal toys (bottom right). Some migrants they choose—but they can receive How old Who cares live in cramped dormitories government services only in the are they? for them? that don’t allow kids (below). places where they were born. The hukou system was put into effect to keep rural families from flooding into cities. This system slows 53% the growth of urban slums—a huge (32 million) concern for Chinese officials. It also Live with one parent allows the governments of Beijing, Shanghai, and other large cities to 38% 48% 13% avoid paying for services for migrants 0-5 6-14 15-17 YEARS OLD YEARS OLD YEARS OLD and their children. Figures don’t add up to 100 percent because of rounding. 33% The program prevented migration (20 million) to the cities for many years. But as Live with grandparents China’s economy grew, millions of How often do they people began moving to the cities any- see their parents? way in search of jobs. Willing to give up their own health care—but not their children’s health care or school- 20% 11% TWICE OR (6.5 million) Chinese . “It’s a very big ing—desperate parents began leaving migration MORE A YEAR Live with others issue that needs to be better known.” ANIMALS) their kids in the best living situation Recently, advocates for left-behind they could. It can be a gut-wrenching 5% children have begun working to bring decision, with the children left to bear EVERY TWO YEARS OR attention to the nationwide crisis. the ultimate burden. LONGER 75% They have prompted calls for China decades, about 270 million Chinese The country makes everything from ONCE A YEAR 3% to end the policies that keep migrant migrants have left their rural villages jeans to iPhones. Many migrants have A Generation at Risk (2.1 million) families apart. How the government to take jobs in China’s bustling cities, jumped at the chance to work 12-hour Without adequate parental super- Live alone responds could have a huge impact— such as Beijing and Shanghai. (See days in China’s factories manufactur- vision, left-behind children are at not just on the millions of left-behind “Mapping China,” p. 17.) ing such products. The pay is low, but increased risk for abuse, violence, and kids, but also on the economy that this China was once poor and isolated, it’s still more than they’d earn in their injury, according to United Nations How do the parents feel? young generation will be expected to and its people suffered for decades villages, which are often crippled data. In 2015, four young siblings liv- sustain someday. under a repressive government. But in by poverty. Most parents, including ing by themselves in rural southwest said they believe raising their children is their responsibility. recent years, the Communist coun- Yuwen’s, send money home to their China died of pesticide poisoning. 92% The Massive Migration try of 1.4 billion people—the largest kids as often as they can. Left-behind children also suffer About half of China’s left-behind chil- population in the world—has trans- “I’m so worried because I’m not emotionally. About 25 percent say said they felt dren live with one parent while the formed itself into an economic giant. with him,” Yuwen’s mother tearfully they have no hope for their future, 80% inadequate as parents. other is away. Another 44 percent are In 1978, the nation’s leaders began told reporters in Chengdu. “If there according to Lijun Chen, a researcher like Yuwen: left in the care of others, to adopt reforms that loosened gov- were no legal barriers, we would at the University of Chicago in Illi- usually grandparents, so both parents ernment control of the economy. bring him with us.” nois. He is the co-author of a recent said they faced can work. And 3 percent—2 million Thanks to these changes, other study that analyzes rural Chinese 62% financial pressure. kids—live by themselves with no rela- nations rushed to do business with Strict System children’s mental health, economic tives to rely on at all. (See “Left-Behind China. Technology firms and clothing Unlike the U.S.—where a family in backgrounds, and education levels. Children by the Numbers,” opposite.) manufacturers have taken advantage rural Wyoming, for example, is free Ironically, while most migrant par- said they made errors at work because of worries about their kids. The phenomenon of left-behind of the nation’s skilled, low-paid work- to move anywhere it wants—China ents cite education as the primary 38% children is a consequence of the largest force, and today China is known as operates under a rigid household reg- reason they leave their kids behind, SOURCES: All-China Women’s Federation, People’s Daily, CCR CSR human migration in history. In recent the world’s workshop. istration policy. It’s called the hukou RYAN PYLE/CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES (FACTORY); LOU LINWEI/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO (FACTORY WORKERS); STR/AFP/GETTY (STUFFED NATIXA/GETTY IMAGES their children often do poorly 14 JUNIOR.SCHOLASTIC.COM • SEPTEMBER 5, 2016 SEPTEMBER 5, 2016 • JUNIOR.SCHOLASTIC.COM 15 Play the Mapman® Game at INTERNATIONAL junior.scholastic.com. in school. Some teachers report that IF LITTLE IS DONE TO IMPROVE LEFT-BEHIND left-behind students have difficulty CHILDREN’S CIRCUMSTANCES SOON, THERE WILL Mapping China focusing. Many have a hard time even 150°E ✱ Whether it’s a rural village or a big city, every location has a precise NORTH POLE 90°N getting to class, because schools in BE ENORMOUS LONG-TERM COSTS. 60°N address on maps: the point at which lines of latitude and longitude cross. Read China’s countryside are often far from 30°N villagers’ homes. Such factors likely Thanks to its history of population Bringing the more about latitude and longitude at right. Then answer the questions. 130°E 0° contribute to the big difference in high control, China already has low num- Left-Behind Forward EQUATOR 50°N school graduation rates between rural bers of children overall. In 1980, the Fortunately, China is starting to take 120°E 140°E 70°E 30°S RUSSIA 110°E 100°E 80°E students (only about 3 percent) and country adopted a law limiting urban notice of its youngest, most vul- 90°E 60°S city students (63 percent). families to one child each.