Left Behind Children
Photo posted August 19, 2016 in
News by Shuyao Chen
When Guocheng Ma and his wife, Chunxia Zhu, left rural Wenzhou to work in Shanghai, the most populous city in China, they knew the sacrifices they faced as migrant workers.
“The hardest thing was not being able to see my kids all year round,” Zhu said.
During Lunar New Year, a weeks-long holiday when when Chinese families traditionally reunite; Ma and Zhu were able to see their family for just one day. For the rest of the time, their three children, Meiting, 17, Leting, 16, and Jinhao, 9, stayed in a boarding school on weekdays and a nearby rental house on weekends.
Ma and Zhu work in Shanghai to make more money to support the family. But there is little they can do to help their children day-to-day when they live so far apart.
“Meiting called me last night. They ran out of cooking oil,” Zhu said, with tears lingering in her eyes. “She said oils in the stores were so expensive. She borrowed some from their neighbors so they could finally cook themselves some food.”
For several months this year Ma and Zhu ran a breakfast business in a tiny shop on Tengyue Road, right across from Yangpu District Central Hospital in suburban Shanghai. Space is so tight that Ma slept in a nook under a stairwell. Profits are small, too. The shop rents for about 20,000 yuan ($3,300) per year. On a good morning. Ma says the business takes in about 150 yuan ($25).
This situation is not uncommon in China. According to China Youth Daily (use Google Translate to view in English), about 61 million children under 17 year old have been “left-behind” by parents who migrated from their rural hometowns to cities in search of higher-paying work. It is unclear how accurate this estimate is, although the explosion of left behind children is being mirrored by an increase in serious social problems, such as juvenile crime and in extreme cases, suicide.
The size of rural families is a factor. China’s “one-child” policy was initiated in 1980 and was abandoned in October 2015. During its 35-year implementation, urban couples were more likely to comply because they received better social welfare support from the government and they were “less dependent on their children than rural couples.” In contrast, rural parents perceived a great need to raise multiple children to provide financial support in old age.
Ma and his wife says they are trying to provide the best life they can afford to their three children. This summer Meiting, their eldest daughter, was enrolled in a high school in a small city near Wenzhou. The family struggled How to pay her tuition and make her “financially equal” to her classmates who were from more urban areas.
“I don’t want her to be looked down by her friends,” Zhu said. “At least, I need to get her a new cell phone.”
Ma and Zhu finally decided to sublease their breakfast shop and come home. Because of the high cost of living in Shanghai, they said they were not making enough money to justify being so far away from their children.
After reaching the decision not to return to Shanghai, Ma and Zhu enjoyed a short reunion with their children, then left for Oubeizhen, a small county about 40 miles north of their home in the Mashang Mount are of Wenzhou. They would be away from their kids again, but much closer to home.
From left, Jinhao Ma, 9, Leting Ma, 16, and Meiting Ma, 17, watch television after dinner at their grandmother's house. Watching TV is the only entertainment they have on weekends. They live in the Mashang Mountain area of Wenzhou, China, where the temperature at night drops below 50 degree Fahrenheit in late March. They put leftover coals in a large basin to keep themselves warm at night.
The Ma children are among China’s “left-behind” kids. Their parents are in Shanghai, 250 miles away from Mashang Mountain, working in a breakfast shop to make enough money to raise them. / Photo by Shuyao Chen
Chunxia Zhu gets out of the bed at around 2 a.m. to start a fire in a coal stove to begin cooking soy beans. It takes several hours on the stove to make the beans soft enough to be ground up with water and sugar to make soy milk. She endures the long days in hopes of providing a better life for her three children who live 250 miles away in the rural Mashang Mount area of Wenzhou, China. / Photo by Shuyao Chen
Guocheng Ma sleeps in the breakfast shop underneath the stairway of their suburban Shanghai breakfast shop as his wife, Zhu, prepares soy beans to make soy milk. The room is about less than 4 square feet and accommodates both Ma and his wife, who endure these conditions in hopes of providing a better life for their three children who live 250 miles away in the rural Mashang Mount area of Wenzhou, China. / Photo by Shuyao Chen
Ma and Zhu pour freshly ground soy milk into a large container. Fresh soy milk is popular for breakfast in Shanghai. They prepare it daily in bulk. / Photo by Shuyao Chen
Ma drops sesame puffs in a basket after they are cooked in the electric fryer. It usually takes two or three big bottles of fresh oil to fry up these puffs and other local breakfast favorites every morning. / Photo by Shuyao Chen
Zhu grabs one fried bread stick to make sticky rice roll as she talks to customers. / Photo by Shuyao Chen
Ma counts money that he and Zhu earned on a Saturday morning. On a busy day they can make more than 100 yuan (equivalent to $15) every morning. "Spring Festival break is probably the best time of the year to make money. Most food places are closed during break, and we are the only one staying open," Ma said. The downside of the lucrative holiday paydays is that Ma and his wife rarely have time to reunite with their children. / Photo by Shuyao Chen
Zhu mops the aged floor in the back kitchen of their suburban Shnghai breakfast shop after the morning service. / Photo by Shuyao Chen
Jinhao Ma and Leting Ma take a stroll before dinner outside their grandmother's house in the Mashang Mount area of Wenzhou, China. Their big sister, Meiting Ma, is away at high school. / Photo by Shuyao Chen
Chunxia Ma's mother cooks lunch for her grandchildren during a weekend visit to her house. During the week they stay at a boarding school. / Photo by Shuyao Chen
Jingo Ma paints on the balcony after he finishes his weekend homework. The family hangs their wash outside to dry. / Photo by Shuyao Chen
Meiting Ma uses spring water stored in a cistern to wash the clothes she and her siblings wear at school. They use the same spring water to brush their teeth and cook. / Photo by Shuyao Chen
The Ma children live and go to school in the mountains of Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China. It's more than 250 miles (a 6-hour drive on back roads) away from the Ma's breakfast shop in suburban Shanghai. The children see their parents only three times a year. / Photo by Shuyao Chen
Leting Ma and Jinhao Ma select groceries from a pickup truck that serves as a mobile grocery cart. The vendor drives up Mashang Mount every weekend. These weekly trips provide the people who live in Mashing Mount with daily essentials and food. / Photo by Shuyao Chen
Leting Ma, left, and Meiting Ma get off the motor-tricycle that transports the children from Mashang Mount to their school 20 minutes away down the hill. The moto-tricycle rides are an occasional luxury. They cost 50 yuan, equivalent to $9. So the Ma children ordinarily walk between school to home, a trek that usually takes more than two hours, even longer when it rains. / Photo by Shuyao Chen
Leting Ma helps her little brother do his first-grade math homework while they wait for lunch. / Photo by Shuyao Chen
The bedroom is lined with newspapers to keep out dust. Before the children go to bed, they sometimes have instant milk tea with jelly, which is Jinhao's favorite food. / Photo by Shuyao Chen
Guocheng Ma and his wife, Chunxia Zhu, returned to their kids in Mashang Mount, Wenzhou, after they subleased their breakfast shop in suburban Shanghai. Guocheng Ma wants to make more money by relocating his breakfast business to a place that is cheaper than Shanghai and closer to home. / Photo by Shuyao Chen
Chunxia Zhu cleans fish that she will be cooking for supper. / Photo by Shuyao Chen
Guocheng Ma hangs up clothes on a bamboo rack inside the house before a family trip down the mountain. His children need to return to school, while he and his wife need to find a new location for their breakfast business. / Photo by Shuyao Chen
Jinhao gets upset when he lost his ping pong ball, one of his favorite toys to play with. / Photo by Shuyao Chen
Zhu does laundry by the side of a creek behind the house in rural Mashang Mount, Wenzhou. / Photo by Shuyao Chen
Meiting Ma, the eldest of the three children, washes her younger brother's feet before they go to bed. / Photo by Shuyao Chen
Jinhao Ma shows his math homework to her mother before they go to bed. After almost two years of working in Shanghai, Ma and Zhu can finally spend some valuable time with their kids. Although they will soon be going to Oubeizhen, a small county about 40 miles north from Mashang Mount, to look for jobs, they will be much closer to home. / Photo by Shuyao Chen