Special

The plight of millions of stay-at-home families

By Yan Weijue (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-03-24 17:04

"386199" is the name given to a large group of stay-at-home families in the country’s rural areas where the labor power leave their family to seek better pay in the cities.

The special group, named by the numbers 38 which refers to 3.8 women's day, 61 refers to 6.1 children's day and 99 refers to 9.9 the double ninth day in the lunar calendar, is the result of urbanization.

The number of stay-at-home children is around 58 million, amounting for 28 percent of the total children in rural areas, according to the All-China Women's Federation. The lack of the companionship of parents results in an absence of custody, care and home-education.

With their husbands becoming migrant workers far away from home, the 50 million stay-at-home women usually have to shoulder all the burdens of the family including doing the manual labor, cooking for the family, doing the laundry and running other errands from day to night. The lack the companionship also leads to a higher divorce rate.

As for the elderly, many of them can not live a happy life since they also share the labor work, and have to take care of the kids when they are at home.

To satisfy the need of the stay-at-home family, materially and spiritually, the central government has put forward a series of policies to help combat the problem.

The photos below are taken in Lingshui county, Wusheng county and Huaying city in southwest China’s Sichuan province, recording the present living situation of a group of stay-at-home families.