Stills from documentary Stories Through 180 Lenses (Photo: Courtesy of Liu Wenxiao)
China's liushou ertong, children who are left in the care of other family members, or left on their own, have become a group whose numbers reach into the tens of millions in China, and continue to grow as China undergoes rapid urbanization. However, due to their decades long existence, people have become so used to this situation that many do not see it as a major issue.It was not until early this June, when four such children in the remote village of Bijie, Guizhou Province, committed suicide together by ingesting pesticide did the public's attention once again return to this group and the impact of their situation on their psychology.
The tragedy also brought a 2014 documentary back into view. Titled Stories Through 180 Lenses, the documentary features left behind children in Sichuan Province. The most unique feature of the film is that all the video clips were shot by the children themselves without any interference from adults.
Little filmmakers
Some sections have left strong impressions on audiences. For example, when children, aged from 9 to 12, are asked by other children "Who do you live with?" the most common answer has been "with my grandparents."
When the young kids took their cameras back home to film their home life, almost all of them are shown playing with themselves or talking to animals.
"More than 2,000 children from 72 elementary schools took part. We only taught them how to use a video camera and how to find a good view. No adults interfered in the process of shooting," said Chen Lei, the film's producer.
The project originally wanted to find out what else children in the remote countryside still need decades after the establishment of China's Hope Project and four years after UNICEF's METRU project began working on enhancing basic school education among children in poverty stricken rural areas. Chen said that what they discovered were beyond anything they ever expected.
Like the four siblings in Bijie, who lived together in a three-story house, many left behind children in Sichuan do not face financial difficulties, instead "the biggest problem is that there is no one accompanying them," Chen pointed out, adding that while it is a simple thing to buy daily necessities and study materials, filling the vacuum left by their parents is no easy task.
"There is a big vacancy in their hearts," Wang Ming, executive director of the project, told the Global Times. Working with the children for nine months, Wang added that he once met a child who said he would do anything to get his parents to come back.
Needing more than money
According to both Chen and Wang, one area the project did seem to help the children is that they seemed to become more outgoing and willing to open their hearts.
"A little girl said she was normally too shy to say 'I love you' to her parents, but she was able to show her love through her video camera," Chen told the Global Times. "She also said she was happy that she could record her daily life and share it with her parents."
While Chen acknowledged that a single project can do little to help solve this social issue, he said his team hopes that by showing this documentary nationwide, people outside rural areas will have a better idea of how to better help these left behind children.
Chen explained that he hopes that when entrepreneurs see the documentary and realize there are employees in their companies that are parents of left behind children that perhaps they will be willing to arrange for these children to come and spend time with their parents, which may be a better solution than just donating money.
According to a report published by NGO Shangxue Lushang in Beijing in June, the number of left behind children has reached 61 million, with 15.1% percent of them - nearly 10 million children - not even seeing their parents even once a year.
Chen noted that currently most people donate school material, but he believes that people can go deeper than that. In his opinion it would be better to find out more about these kids' different hobbies and provide them with appropriately targeted materials. For example, Chen mentioned that his crew realized some children that took part in the project dream about becoming a director or photographer some day and that some even seen to have a talent for it. By providing these kids a cheap camera could help them one day make their dreams a reality.
Chen mentioned how he came across someone who was helping these left behind children by providing them with envelopes and stamps so these kids could write to their parents every month.
Though modern communication facilities may also help, Chen is of the opinion that when a parent opens an envelope or a child receives a letter from his or her parents that feeling of happiness can go beyond words.
"We only planted a seed. It will require all of us taking part if we want this seed to grow," Chen said.
