Will China’s plans to tackle plight of left behind children prove effective?

Academic studies have shown that these children have a higher chance of either committing crimes or becoming the victims or criminal acts and abuses.

One paper, co-authored by Peking University researcher Zhang Dandan along with Lisa Cameron from University of Melbourne and Xin Meng from Australian National University and published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organisation in 2022, drew such a conclusion.

The paper, titled “Does being left behind in childhood lead to criminality in adulthood?”, is based on a 2013 survey which compared the backgrounds of about 1,000 male prison inmates.

Fixing the urban-rural gap? China weighs making ‘left-behind property’ tradeable

It concluded that those who were left behind by their parents were more likely to become criminals in adulthood as they tend to be more willing to take risks as well as having lower levels of education.

Many studies also show that left behind children are prone to become victims of sexual abuse, school bullying, human trafficking, as well as suffering from psychological issues such as depression, loneliness or suicide.

This situation is not a new phenomenon. In 2015, the nation was shocked after four children in Bijie, a prefecture in Guizhou province, killed themselves after being abandoned by their migrant worker parents.

Chinese researchers have also highlighted a figure from the 2010 census that found there were up to 60 million left behind children at the time. Given that many of these children will now be adults with children of their own it raises the question of what is happening to their children.

Other questions to be asked include the number of second generation left behind children and how many of them live in dysfunctional families because their parents can offer them little or no parental care, or suffered trauma and family separation during their own childhoods.

Social and psychological issues, if unresolved and passed down to the next generation, can easily become more severe and more entrenched in a family line or a local area, and create bigger social problems.

Having said that, descriptions about left behind children should also be handled with care to avoid creating stigma.

There are also studies showing many migrant children have found ways to mitigate the challenges they face. For example, a paper in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health in 2021 found that communication with their parents – even though they do not live together – was crucial for children to develop resilience.

01:35

Left-behind toddler chases after parents’ car in China

Left-behind toddler chases after parents’ car in China

The government appears to be aware of the severity of the problem.

In January the Ministry of Civil Affairs issued a three-year action plan hoping to mitigate the situation and local governments have been publishing their own versions of the plan in recent weeks.

These action plans aim to improve the mental and psychological health of left behind children and improve safety measures, such as fencing off fish ponds in villages following a number of drowning incidents.

The government will also appoint officials to visit these children, better train local guardians and provide psychological intervention if they identify potential problems with the children, among other measures such as organising summer camps.

Emptying villages or job-scarce cities: rural Chinese have tough row to hoe

However, many of the measures mentioned in the action plans rely heavily on the local bureaucrats and it is questionable whether these plans will be properly funded or prove effective when mainland China does not have a vibrant civil society.

There is also no mention of policy change to make it easier for migrant workers to bring their children when they work in cities. After all, visits by officials, counsellors, volunteers or guardians cannot replace parental care.