In the Gray Area . . .

[Randy W]

An interesting article from the Global Times about children caught between earning a living and getting an education

 

Contorted childhood

 

 

 

Huanhuan and Lele's parents were waiting for them at the exit of the train station. Although the family was reunited, strangely none of them seemed to be happy or even expected this moment.

The girls' hometown is in Wanlong county near the city of Kaifeng in Henan Province. Three days ago, Huanhuan and Lele, together with other four local children were sent back to Kaifeng by police after they were found to have been in Shanghai putting on acrobatics shows for money for the past few years.

 

. . .

 

Before they were sent back, some concerned people thought the children had been abducted or kidnapped and went to the police to have them rescued.

However, the owner of the acrobatics troupe claimed this was all a misunderstanding and that they were never kidnapped.

 

. . .

 

After leaving the apartment, Zaizai went straight to the local police and called authorities in Henan. The Shanghai police moved quickly after being tipped off, bringing in the manager and six kids for questioning. Meanwhile, Henan police also sent a team to Shanghai to assist in the investigation.

However, after questioning, police said they couldn't find any evidence to charge Shan. They released her and sent the children back to their homes in Henan.

To find out the truth behind the troupe and the stories of these children and their families, the Global Times went to Henan and heard quite a different story.

 

. . .

 

Wang Huan, mother to Huanhuan and Lele, admitted she knew about her children performing acrobatics in Shanghai but insisted that the family never received any money from that when speaking to the Global Times from her farmhouse last Wednesday.

According to Wang, Shan Jingping is her relative and quite a famous woman locally. She left for Shanghai a long time ago, learned acrobatics and married a local man.

"We had four children and we really couldn't afford to bring them up and put them through school. So we thought that sending them to live with Shan in Shanghai and learn acrobatics would give them a better life," Wang said.

In Wang's eyes, although living without her daughters was painful, sending them to Shanghai was also a way to reduce the burden of taking care of her two other kids.

Huanhuan was sent to Shanghai when she was only 5, with Lele following a year later. Wang said she goes to Shanghai to visit them a few times each year but the kids only came back to their hometown for a few days during Spring Festival.

 

. . .

 

"Those kids would never be able to simply return home and be the same as their friends in their hometown. It's just a matter of time before they come back to the big city they know so well and to the surroundings they have experienced most of their lives. They belong here now," Shan Jingping told the Global Times by phone.

Shan complained about the unfair treatment she has received due to the scrutiny with which this case has met. She claims that she would like to send the children to school regularly but that it is hard to do so and maintain a balance between practice and study.

"The best option is to send them to an acrobatics school but this costs tens of thousands of yuan a year and is too expensive for a village family," Shan said.

"People in the city never understand the fate of those from the countryside and always impose their values on us. Actually we have the same goal as those volunteers. We want to give these kids a brighter future but we just choose a different way," Shen said.

 

. . .

 

"In this case, which is not a typical child abduction or kidnapping case, even if they weren't abused, it's wrong to make children earn a living so early and deprive them of an education," he argued. "How can we help them to get out of this vicious circle between making a living and poverty?"

Gu Jun, a sociology professor from Shanghai University, thinks the issue is complicated at many levels and requires broad social action to truly enshrine and protect the rights of minors.

"When we talk about what society can do for these kids, we should realize that children from poor rural families do truly want to go to school, and if they get that opportunity, they will work harder and pay back this chance more than many kids in the city. But for almost all poor families in countryside, school fees can overwhelm them. If this problem can't be solved, even sending the children back to their parents won't help as it will only be a matter of time before they are sent away again."