Premier Li Keqiang extended Spring Festival greetings to left-behind children yesterday in person, at Jinpo Village, a rural mountain area of Shaanxi province.
During his visit to one family, he made a phone call to the migrant worker father of a 12 year old girl whose father had missed last year's festival, asking about his working conditions and encouraging him to come home for Chinese New Year. Yang Xiufeng promised Premier Li over the phone that this time he would be home the holidays.
"[Migrant workers] are our national heroes," Li told reporters.
While this story may be a happy one, Yang's life hasn't been. Left by his wife because he was "too poor" when their daughter was just two years old, Yang had to relocate to Zhejiang to work as a fisherman. His daughter has spent most of the last ten years being raised by her grandparents.
Rural poverty remains a severe problem in China. In remote areas, tough living conditions have meant an ever increasing number of young villagers leave their hometowns for cities, while the elderly and children are left behind at home.
At the end of his trip, Premier Li posed for photos with some left-behind families and encouraged them to struggle for a better life. "Children are the hope for the mountains," he said.
[Image via CNS]
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