‘Left behind’ children in poison deaths tragedy
Print Edition
The deaths of four siblings in one of China’s poorest regions have again shed light on the plight of children without parental care in the world’s second largest economy.
The children — a 13-year-old boy and his younger sisters aged from 5 — were admitted to hospital in Bijie, a city in southwest China’s Guizhou Province, on Tuesday after drinking pesticide, police said, but died when emergency treatment failed.
It was unclear if the youngsters had intended to kill themselves, police said.
Local authorities have been unable to get in touch with the parents.
Gao Huacheng, Party chief of Cizhu Village, said the children’s mother, Ren Xifen, left home last year after a long and bitter feud with her husband, while their father, Zhang Fangqi, left the village for work in March.
The children were left to fend for themselves, with a large quantity of corn and preserved meat stored in the house.
Police said Zhang had given his son a bank card for an account that still had about 3,500 yuan (US$565) in it.
Pan Ling, a distant relative, said the children were socially withdrawn and often skipped class. Their paternal grandparents were dead while their other grandparents lived too far away to be able to look after them.
The government of Qixingguan District, which administers the village, has launched a survey on “left-behind” children and asked education officials, school principals and village heads to keep a close eye on such children to prevent similar tragedies.
China has more than 60 million children in rural areas who are left with relatives, usually grandparents, while their parents seek work far from home. According to a 2013 report by the All-China Women’s Federation, around 3.4 percent of children in China are “left behind.”
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