China's Abandoned Children

ANCHOR:
Life is hard for children abandoned in mainland China. They struggle to survive and are almost deserted by the State. But in one village on the outskirts of Beijing there is a place they can call home.

STORY:
Sun Village, in the outskirts of Beijing, is home to over 100 children aged between 4 months and 18 years-old. They have nowhere else to go. These children are the leftovers of China's highly secretive prison system.

They come to Sun Village suffering severe mental distress. Some are orphans of men and women executed by the state. Many are the children of mothers who have killed their husbands, after years of domestic abuse... now imprisoned for murder.

Li Yanan's mother is serving a prison sentence for murder.

[Li Yanan, Mother in Jail]:
"My father left me and then he died soon after, then there was just my mother. My mother was put into prison. She's going to be in jail for 18 years."

After her mother's jail sentence, Li Yanan says she lived in the countryside with people who shouted and hit her.

She found her way to Sun Village six years ago. Sun Village is a non-governmental organization which receives funding from overseas donors and little help from the state. The group's founder says that in some Chinese people's minds these children still carry the guilt of their parents' crimes.

[Zhang Shuqin, Sun Village Founder]:
"Some children walked for miles to stand outside the prison gates and try to bring their parents home, some either stole or bought things to give to their mother in prison, some were ill but could not afford to buy any medicine and so they died. I have seen all of these cases. The most pitiful cases are those children whose mother offends and father leaves so they are left on their own without anyone to care for them and they themselves become offenders."

The death penalty applies to more than 60 offenses in China, including many non-violent and economic crimes.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• ntd
• china
• orphans
• beijing
• prison
• sun
• village

[starbabe58]

so very sad

[MikeSilk007]

china superpower????

[12235117657598502586]

Wonderful and compassionate work.

I'm going to ask Aljazeera for the postal address of Sun Village, so I can make a small contribution.

I'm sure every little bit of money they receive will be welcomed.