Since the 1990s, with the rise of a booming Chinese economy, more than 200 million people in China have left their hometowns to make a living in the cities. Due to the mass relocation of the country's labor force, countless number of children were left in their home villages to be taken care of by their grandparents, or to stay with the relatives and friends. Since they are separated for a long period of time from their parents who work outside their home village, they are called the "Left-behind Children".
Three groups of left-behind individuals：
Left-behind Children
Majority of left-behind children are aged from 11 and under, usually taken care by their grandparents, risk facing the following problems:
1.Personal Safety
Rural villages generally are less developed, lack of care by the parents, children would be in risk facing accidents, such as playing in the pond area could easily drown, got poison, or car accidents …etc.
2.Physical Health
Most left-behind families are poor, lack of resources, some left-behind children might be lack of nutrient to stop them from proper development.
3.Educational
Since the working labor force is low in the families, most left-behind children would need to help doing house works and farm works, in additional, nobody is available to assist the children with homework affecting their education leading to skip school and early drop-out.
4.Social Networking and Emotion
Children with lack of parenting love and care would affect their trust in other and sense of security leading to have many negative emotions, such as sadness, anxiety, and hatefulness.
5.Characteristic and Value
The incomplete of family carries a serious affect in the psychological development of children; these affects usually would shaped the children in two extreme characters. Some would be isolated, low self-esteem; some would be abnormally strong and mature. Aside, family origin affects the whole life of the children, especially their characters and values.
Source : National Bureau of Statistics of China, Internet
Left-behind women
Left-behind women are expected to take up the husband responsibilities, in addition to looking after the elderlies, they are also expected to take care of the children; handling day to day house works and farm works, bearing the whole load of family responsibilities onto their shoulders. Furthermore, due to the long term and long-distance separation from their husbands, chances of communication and interaction with their husbands are lacked leading to serious risk in their marriage and family relationship. Left-behind women are living lonely, hard labor and helpless lives, the pressure they are facing are indescribable. Their physical burden and mental health issues are needing our attention.
Left-behind elderlies
In about 40% of left-behind families, young and strong couples left the rural village to work in the urban city leaving behind their elderly parents at home to take care of their children. Majority of them are relatively low in economic status, mainly rely on their younger children who work in the city or government aids for basic living. Leaving behind the eldest and youngest to rely on each other in the rural village, for the elderlies, it is especially poor and sadden when facing illnesses, which would have no one to take care of.
