The left behinds

The Generation Gap, Wuyuan Villages, Jianxi, China.

'The Generation Gap'. That is, the noticeably missing generation between the elderly and children in the Chinese countryside. The elderly and the children are also known as the 'left behinds', and the numbers are staggering.

Being in the city, its also noticeable. Take my flatmates for example. Their daughter is 3 years old, she lives with her grandparents in his hometown. He's a 'kuai di' (courier) driver, works 7 days a week and is lucky if he can take one days leave a month to rest, or make the 8hr return train ride to see her. Or take my second cousin for example. She and her husband are designers, running their business in Hangzhou, her 5 year old son is/has been raised by her parents in her hometown, Zhuji. Zhuji is just 80km from Hangzhou, but last time I spoke with her she said she's been so busy, she hasn't been home (and he hasn't come to visit) for more than 2months. In fact, with all my running to and from Hangzhou and Zhuji for chinese festivals and visiting aunts I think I've seen more of him than she has. The left behinds.

With the Kiwi Mission team in Xi'an I had the privilege of being 'sent' to a countryside school to teach two days of english. The photo describes what it was physically like (yes those are the toilets...yes it snowed that heavy in November!)  but conversations with kids can never be captured by a camera. Forsaking my served lunch in the 'staff room', I joined the kids in the canteen as they scoffed their noodles.

 'Ayi', they addressed me (lit 'aunty'!!) 'are you going to be our teacher from now on?' (oh breaks my heart!) 'No, just until tomorrow. I need to go back to my country' 

'Where do you live?' (groan, did we not just spend the whole morning talking about NZ?)

 'Very far away. I need to take an aeroplane to get there'.

 'Ayi, does your country have aeroplanes!!?? they marvelled.

 'Yes, and you know, China does too!' 

 'Waaaaa! they screamed - it was like the most brilliant piece of information they'd gained in a long time. 'Ayi,' their eyes couldn't contain their delight like I couldn't contain my laughter, 'how many aeroplanes does China have??'

 The majority of these kids live with their grandparents - their parents are in the city mostly 打工 - doing seasonal/temporary work on construction sites, in restaurants, etc. I asked them how often their parents come home - not very often, maybe once or twice a year. And when they finish primary school, I guess they go off to live at high school and then university.... I'm not sure if its just my privileged family upbringing or narrow minded western mindset, but I look at this picture and think 'why bother having a kid??'

Countryside school, Shaanxi, China.