Not One Less

Time: 2019-01-28

The past few years has seen the left-behind children in Bijie become the focus because of a series of unwatchable tragedies inflicted on them like being burnt to death by lighting a fire for warmth and being raped by teachers in turn. In 2017, there were more than 1.8 million immigrant workers from Bijie where there were more than 260 thousand rural left-behind children. In the process of targeted poverty alleviation, relocation can get the left-behind children away from wicked living conditions and the new employment opportunities can unite the children with their parents working far away from home.

  • On Dec. 8, 2018, in Jingzhu Village, Zhejue Town, Weining County, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, the 9-year-old An Hua was packing up his schoolbag in bed placed in the kitchen when she was about to move into the high-rise building situated in the relocation site of Weining County and get enrolled in the local Weining No. 7 Primary School. An Hua’s elder brother is studying in a Weining high school, their mother running a fruit stall in the county and father rehabilitating from leg fracture at home.

  • On Dec. 14, 2017, in Lunhe Village, Zhejue Town, Weining County, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, the 4-year-old Zhang Qin was in bed where she had slept with her grandma. Heavily poverty-stricken, she lived in the mountain, and her parents were migrant workers living with her younger sister in another province. 2017 saw her included into the rank of targeted poverty alleviation receivers.

  • On Mar. 1, 2018, Zhang Qin together with her family members moved from the deep mountain to the new central new village in Lunhe Village, where she and her younger sister were able to have their own room and a new bed. Zhan Qin’s father has also become a poverty-alleviation industrialization project employee, her mother staying at home to take care of them two.

  • On Dec. 14, 2017, in Lunhe Village, Zhejue Town, Weining County, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, the 8-year-old Zhu Fujun from a mountain family was on his own bed, under which was a cow enclosure. Zhu Fujun is a Lunhe Primary School student who had to climb several hills and walk over 2 hours for a single trip before reaching his school every day, his parents being migrant workers. 2017 saw him included into the rank of targeted poverty alleviation receivers.

  • On Mar. 1, 2018, after moving from the deep mountain to the new home in the central new village in Lunhe Village, the 8-year-old Zhu Fujun had his own independent bedroom. In the past, Zhu Fujun had to spend more than 4 hours on a return journey to and from his school, but now his new home is just 5 minutes’ walk from the school. His parents has also come back home, prepared to obtain employment nearby.

  • On Dec. 15, 2017, from a mountain family in Lunhe Village, Zhejue Town, Weining County, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, the 9-year-old Zhang Min was presently living with his grandma whose bed was in a corner of an old civil engineering structured room. She had to spend more than 2 hours on a single trip to her school every day. Short of land and living in the debris flow disaster zone, her parents were compelled to work away from home. 2016 saw Zhang Min’s family included into the rank of targeted poverty alleviation receivers.

  • On Mar. 1, 2018, the 9-year-old Zhang Min moved from the deep mountain to her new home in the central new village in Lunhe Village and now has had her own independent bedroom, with the distance between her new home and her school being just 5 minutes’ walk. Her parents have planned to go back home one after another and be employed nearby.

  • On Dec. 15, 2017, from a mountain family in Lunhe Village, Zhejue Town, Weining County, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, the 12-year-old Zhang Shunli was in front of her bed. She was taking his little brother to live with their grandma. It then took almost 2 hours for her to walk to school, her parents being migrant workers in Suzhou. 2016 saw her family included into the rank of targeted poverty alleviation receivers.

  • On Mar. 1, 2018, Zhang Shunli moved from the deep mountain to her new home in the central new village in Lunhe Village and now has had her own independent room, her parents having gone back to the hometown, too and working in a poverty-alleviation industrialization project company.

  • On June 24, 2018, in Wushimu Village, Haizijie Town, Qixingguan District, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, the three siblings Li Jiayu, Li Jiaxue, and Li Chuangda were sleeping in a 1990s’ civil engineering structured dilapidated room, their grandma living with them and they spending 3 hours on a return trip to and from the school every day. It is 5 years before that their mother has been nowhere to be found after abandoning them three, their father now working in Zhejiang. 2017 saw their family included into the rank of targeted poverty alleviation receivers. Know about the three siblings Know about the three siblings

  • On June 26, 2018, in Bihaiyangguang Community, Economic Development Zone, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, Li Jiayu, Li Jiaxue, and Li Chuangda together with their father and grandma moved into the new 100-m2 house, and the three siblings not only have new beds but also study in the community school which is only 10 minutes’ walk from the new home. Their father Li Chuanfu is now working in the community, earning a 3000-yuan salary.

  • On Dec. 14, 2017, in Lunhe Village, Zhejue Town, Weining County, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, the 6-year-old Su Shengyou was in a less-than-4-m2 attic bedroom of a stone house, with a dark, humid and smelly stock barn below the bedroom. He was living with his grandma, with his parents taking his little brother to work distantly from home. 2017 saw his family included into the rank of targeted poverty alleviation receivers.

  • On Dec. 7, 2018, in Lunhe Village, Zhejue Town, Weining County, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, the 7-year-old Su Shengyou was in his new home in the central new village in Lunhe Village and now also has his now room. At present, he is living with his grandpa, his parents planning to be back home for employment and for the time being working outside while waiting for the employment opportunities in hometown. At the moment, the relevant local industrial poverty alleviation projects are being constructed.

  • On Dec. 14, 2017, in Lunhe Village, Zhejue Town, Weining County, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, the 13-year-old Chen Yongpeng was sitting by his bedside, his home situated in the geological disaster area, he and his 8-year-old sister having to walking 2 hours to get to school every day and his father coerced to work far away from home for lack of land. 2017 saw his family included into the rank of targeted poverty alleviation receivers.

  • Dec. 7, 2018 saw Chen Yongpeng live in the central new village in Lunhe Village, he and his sister owning a respective bed. Dropping out of school for half a year, he once more wanted to resume his study in the school near his home, and his parents have come back home, planning to be employed nearby.

  • On Dec. 8, 2018, in Jingzhu Village, Zhejue Town, Weining County, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, the 6-year-old An Ran and her 9-year-old brother An Jiagen were having a picture taken as a memento. On the same day, the two children would move to the high-rise building situated in the relocation site in Weining County with their parents and transfer to the local primary school. Before that, their parents working far away from home had already returned.

  • On Dec. 8, 2018, in Weining County, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, the 6-year-old An Ran and her 9-year-old brother found themselves making up the room in the relocation site’s high-rise building, both of whom have their respective independent room and study in the school just several hundred meters from their home. Their parents are now working in the county.

  • On Dec. 8, 2018, in Jingzhu Village, Zhejue Town, Weining County, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, the 9-year-old Yang Kai and his 11-year-old brother Yang Lei were having a picture taken as a souvenir by their bedside in their native place. On the same day, they were going to move to the high-rise building in the relocation site of Weining County and transfer to the local primary school.

  • On Dec. 8, 2018, in Weining County, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, the 9-year-old Yang Kai was in his 11-year-old brother Yang Lei’s room, the two of them having their respective independent bedroom. Their mother has come back to be with them, their father still working in a foreign place planning to be home after the Spring Festival and obtain employment nearby.

  • On Dec. 7, 2018, in Lunhe Village, Zhejue Town, Weining County, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, the 11-year-old Zhang Qiong at usual times slept with her grandma in a dilapidated room’s attic on the clapboard on which was paved a cotton-wadded quilt—-her bed. One side of the attic was shelterless with freezing wind pouring into, unimpeded. A Lunhe Primary School student, she had to walk more than one hour to the school.

  • On Dec 8, 2018, in Weining County, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, the 11-year-old Zhang Qiong was taking care of her 3-year-old sister in her own room in the relocation site’s high-rise building. Zhang Qiong’s parents have taken her little sister from where they previously worked in Zhejiang to their new home. Having long worked in the foreign place’s factories and with certain technical expertise, her parents will easily find employment in the county.

  • On Dec. 8, 2018, in Jingzhu Village, Zhejue Town, Weining County, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, the 7-year-old An Lan and her elder brother were having a picture taken as a souvenir on their old bed in their old home. On the same day, they were going to move to the high-rise building in the relocation site of Weining County and transfer to the local primary school.

  • On Dec. 8, 2018, in Weining County, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, the 7-year-old An Lan and her elder brother had their respective independent bedroom. Their parents have already come back home to be with them and will work in the surrounding local agricultural industrial park.

  • On Dec. 8, 2018, the day of relocation, in Jingzhu Village, Zhejue Town, Weining County, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, the 7-year-old An Lan and her elder brother as well as the kids of their neighbor who were to relocate together were having a picture taken as a momento before their old home. They were going to say goodbye to the dilapidated house, move to the relocation site’s building in Weining County and study in the local primary school with advanced teaching facilities.

  • On June 25, 2018, in Wushimu Village, Haizijie Town, Qixingguan District, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, the 18-year-old Tang Guantian and her 20-year-old sister Tang Guanlin were living in an attic of a dilapidated house. Their mother is disabled and father diseased for a long time, the scarce farm land being planted by their father with their help. 2017 saw her family included into the rank of targeted poverty alleviation receivers.

  • On June 27, 2018, in Bihaiyangguang Community, Economic Development Zone, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, the 18-year-old Tang Guantian and her 20-year-old sister Tang Guanlin were living in their new home. The new 100-m2 house has been allocated to her family of 5 members free of charge, the two sisters presently working in a smart greenhouse operating company.

  • This is the aerial view of Bihaiyangguang Community taken on Dec. 7, 2018. The community can arrange for 7008 households of 27907 people, with 4489 households’ 20521 people already becoming its residents. The local facilities include 2 kindergartens, 1 primary school, community residents committee, cultural room, senior citizens service station, community service health center, police room, etc. alongside another 6 matching industrial projects well underway on the perimeter of the relocation site, covering 18500 people of 5286 impoverished households.

Photographer: Jie Chen

Photographic poverty alleviation public welfare program rolled out by Sky3 Seed in collaboration with eBroker, and 51VR to support Jie Chen together with his team in recording the poverty-stricken households and villages as well as the individual and collective predicaments in the midst of social changes to push the society to change. In 2018, Jie Chen and his team investigate and survey 100-odd households scattering across 20 villages including Bijie in Guizhou, Liangshan in Sichuan, Nanjiang in Xinjiang and Dingxi in Gansu, of which, it has shot massive pictures and documentary materials, made a lot of field investigations and written records, and produced relevant reports.

The Cabin of Love published an array of pictures shot in Bijie in Guizhou in 2018, at the end of which, more pictures and writings were sorted out with each cheek shot in the pictures being a family’s hope and telling a vivid survival story.

Sina.com, Beijing News and other major media outlets have seen the release of relevant reports which have attracted more than 10 million clicks and over 10 thousand remarks. Hence an increasing number of people who have known these children, feeling anxious about their misfortunes and gratified at their changes.

The new year is approaching. For the Bijie children, the equally new things are houses, schools and future full of various possibilities.