(New Year's news) Behind the 8000 "foreign left-behind" children: How to "return" love?
China News Service, Qingtian, February 17th, title: Behind the 8,000 "foreign left-behind" children: How to "return" love?
Author Zhang Bin Zhang Yuhuan
Zhejiang Qingtian is a famous hometown of overseas Chinese, with 330,000 overseas Chinese, distributed in more than 120 countries and regions around the world.
According to incomplete statistics, there are about 8,000 local children whose parents are on the other side of the ocean.
This year’s Spring Festival, a reporter from China News Agency approached the “foreign left-behind” children, trying to record their laughs and tears, and trying to find a way to “return” love.
The love that "disappears" around
"Have your mother braided you?"
"That was the Spring Festival of 2019." Faced with a question, Li Jiajin, who is 11 years old this year, blurted out, "I remember my mother came back once two years ago and taught me to wear this ponytail when I was about to leave. But I always can't do it well. ."
Her memory of her mother seemed to remain at that moment.
Li Jiajin's parents live in Italy.
The sensible one most often said to her parents on the phone is "You must wear a mask and take care of your sister."
Her younger sister was born 5 years ago and was taken by her parents.
Like Li Jiajin, with the label of "foreign stay behind" for ten years, Yang Chengfeng has become accustomed to the days when his parents are not around, and even "has nothing to say" during video calls with his parents.
In his memory, the number of meetings with his parents can be counted with one hand.
Except when he met him in kindergarten, most of Yang Chengfeng's mother's image originated from video calls that span thousands of miles. The younger brother who appeared in the video often made Yang Chengfeng envied because he "can eat pork chops".
"If you can (keep the child) by your side, who wants to be separated? No matter who you are, you basically want to be a family. Because all aspects of life are not allowed, there is no way." Yang Chengfeng's father, Yang Wupu, in Barcelona, Spain, is talking to reporters Said in the connection.
According to Yang Wupu, the restaurant for the husband and wife was closed last year due to poor management and the impact of the epidemic.
The family’s life has been challenged. “Now I can earn eight or nine hundred euros per month, which is equivalent to more than 6,000 yuan. The income is actually just enough to meet the expenses.”
"I can only say that I try my best to meet his requirements as much as possible," said Yang Wupu.
The reality that hinders companionship
Chen Li is the secretary of the Youth League Committee of Fangshan Township in Qingtian County and the "surrogate mother" of local "foreign left-behind" children.
"Before I contacted them, I thought that overseas Chinese would always go home once a year. But in fact, many people only come back once every three or four years, and there is really too little company for their children." Chen Li said that the local party members and cadres With Xiangxian as the "surrogate parents", the children are more happy.
In recent years, Qingtian County has implemented the "Bacon" project for the new generation of overseas Chinese. For example, the "Concentric Warm Overseas Chinese Project" has been used as a starting point to carry out a series of activities to care for left-behind overseas Chinese children, and the establishment of a "Love Library" and "Psychological Consultation Room" for left-behind overseas Chinese children. .
"For the'foreign left-behind' children, the government's protection and care are very warm, but they need the company of their parents." According to Yang Xiaoai, part-time vice chairman of the Qingtian County Federation of Overseas Chinese and honorary chairman of the Ecuador Qingtian Association, through the introduction of measures, Attracting the "dilemma" of overseas Chinese to return to China for development is a "permanent solution" to alleviate the status quo of "foreign staying behind".
She pointed out that the overseas Chinese in Qingtian have difficulty making a decision to return to China due to different development rhythms at home and abroad.
She suggested learning from the experience of foreign urbanization, establishing the concept of "living in the countryside is a better life" and attracting overseas Chinese to return to their hometowns for development.
Yang Xiaoai also suggested that overseas Chinese should pay more attention to the education of their children.
"We must strengthen the education and guidance of the'foreign left-behind' children and encourage them to study hard." (End)