Summer holidays far from fun for migrant children(3)

Crowded communities

Since 2009, Dongshagezhuang, near the Sixth Ring Road in Beijing's Changping district, has grown into a community populated largely by migrant workers.

According to Qi, about 1,000 native villagers and an estimated 50,000 migrant population live there.

Most male migrant workers do jobs related to construction and domestic renovation, or else work in sales or drive unlicensed taxis. Most women workers, meanwhile, make a living as restaurant waitresses or housekeepers.

"There are no statistics on the migrant population, but I estimate there are more than 2,000 migrant workers' children, and the number is bigger during summer, as many left-behind children come to visit," Qi said.

The community has a library but it is always closed. China Daily found a phone number for the library online, but the employee who answered said she knew nothing about the library and then hung up.

Cheng Huoqing at the Cultural Service Center in Beiqijia township, which oversees cultural affairs in Dongshagezhuang, said community activity centers are often used as meeting rooms for village committees or rehearsal rooms for the senior citizens' dance society.

He explained that the difficulty with constructing cultural and sports facilities comes from the fact that feasibility studies are based on the number of permanent residents, not the migrant population.

"In suburban areas such as Dongshagezhuang, the influx of migrants has put great pressure on public facilities and resources," Cheng said. "It's so crowded in the villages and there is so little public space that even if we plan to organize some cultural events, we dare not advertise too much because we are afraid of accidents.

"During hot summer days, water and electricity supplies are serious problems, so facilities for children seem less urgent for the government."

Life lessons

Zhang Yan, a professor at Beijing Normal University, argues that instead of pumping more money into facilities or expecting immediate action from the government, the emphasis should be on improving parents' awareness of child safety issues.

"It's hard to change the system quickly, but it will make a big difference if parents realize they should keep an eye on their children and teach children to be more careful about the traffic and about being in a new environment," she said. "You shouldn't think all migrant workers' children should live the same life as urban children. Most are happy with the status quo."

The professor has been studying the education of migrant workers' children for about 10 years.

"Livelihood is always the priority for migrant workers, and there is nothing wrong in the children seeing their parents' real life and the hardship of making money," she said.