Xinhua Insight: Left-behind children benefit from migrant worker homecomings

Tao Xingyue, 12, and Tao Junshen, 10, used to dread the end of the Chinese New Year holiday when their parents would leave them at home to return to their distant jobs. This year, they had no reason to cry.

After five years living with their uncle in their village on the outskirts of Chongqing Municipality, the children have their mum and dad back by their side.

Xingyue and Junshen were typical of the 60 million rural Chinese children "left behind" by parents earning a living in distant cities. Mother Yu Changmei, a cleaner, and father Tao Yonghong, a security guard could only return home twice a year from Guizhou Province.

Now, however, they are an example of an increasingly common type of Chinese family -- reunited ones. With growing awareness of the risks for left-behind children, China's migrant population decreased for the first time in about 30 years in 2015. The government wants migrants back home for economic reasons as it works to close the urban-rural development gap, but also to help lonely kids.

On Sunday, the State Council, China's Cabinet, released a guideline on protecting left-behind children, delineating the responsibilities of parents, government and society at large.

This is one prong of a two-pronged approach: Authorities really do not want children left behind at all.

Most residents of Chongqing's outskirts are farmers who earn very little money. The municipal government is helping them start their own businesses from home or to find work nearby.

Chongqing has offered 7.4 billion yuan (1.1 billion U.S. dollars) in low-interest loans to 89,000 migrant workers in the past four years. Businesses that employ more than 100 ex-farmers can get subsidies of up to 600,000 yuan, and 36 industrial parks are offering workshops, entrepreneurial guidance and financing specifically for returned migrant workers.

More than 1.7 million migrant workers have come back to Chongqing since 2010, and nearly a third of them have started their own businesses, according to the municipal human resources and social security department.

SEPARATION TOO GREAT A PRICE

Yu Changmei and Tao Yonghong have missed out on the benefits of these schemes. It took Yu three months to secure a job at an electronics factory with a monthly salary of 1,600 yuan, almost the same as she was earning in Guizhou. Tao has not yet found a job.

Still, they think being a family again more than makes up for the drop in income. "It's worth it," said Yu. "Separation from my family and community was too great a price to pay."

It was not the government that persuaded them to return, but their children's teacher. Peng Kaiqiang noticed that the pair were often glum and did not delight at school parties like other kids.

"Their uncle treated them well, and their foster family did not struggle for money. What they lacked was their parents' love," said Peng.

Peng called Yu and Tao every week, talking them through their offspring's performance at school. Eventually, Yu realized the separation was not doing her children any good.

Soon after the couple came home, Peng saw Xingyue and Junshen coming out of their shells.

"They used to follow their uncle back home in silence, but now it's hugs and laughs when their mum or dad picks them up," said the teacher.

MAKING SEPARATION LESS COSTLY

Others in their class are feeling the love. The number of left-behind children in their school has dropped from more than 30 in 2012 to 11 today.

In the past three years, Chongqing's left-behind population has shrunk by 16.8 percent to 890,000.

Encouraging as this may be for children's well-being, the huge numbers of migrant workers nationwide (247 million at the end of 2015, according to the National Bureau of Statistics) mean that the problem is not going away altogether.

Authorities are ready to act on Sunday's State Council guideline.

"The phenomenon will persist, taking into consideration China's economic and social development," said Li Yi, head of children's affairs with Chongqing women's federation.

"We'll help the guardians of left-behind children get up to speed with parenting skills and raise their awareness of safety," Li said. "We've got200,000 volunteers ready to offer care and support." Endi