Over 20 million kindergarten-age children living without their parents in China

One sad side effect of China's economic miracle: 23 million children under the age of five now live apart from both their parents, who have left home to find work in the country's cities, according to a newly released statistic.
By Malcolm Moore, Shanghai
21 Nov 2011

In scenes reminiscent of wartime Britain, villages across China's countryside have emptied of all working-age adults, leaving only the elderly and young behind.

For three decades, Chinese workers have been migrating from the countryside to the cities in search of work. In the beginning, only the men left, their wives remaining to look after the family. But as the world demanded more and more Made-in-China goods, the women began to join them.

Now, a third of all kindergarten-age children in China have been left behind by both parents, often in the care of their grandparents or other relatives, according to Deng Li, an official at the All China Women's Federation, a government-run campaign group.

They see their mothers and fathers only once or twice a year, usually during national holidays. the rest