Xinjiang to bring back vagrant kids
Source: Xinhua |
April 23, 2011, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
XINJIANG Uygur Autonomous Region has promised to find and bring home all native Xinjiang children who are staying in other parts of the country, some of whom steal or beg for a living.
From April 23 to May 1, the regional government will send teams of investigators to search for vagrant children in 19 provinces and municipalities that regularly offer aid to Xinjiang, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong, Xinjiang's top official Zhang Chunxian said on Thursday.
"We'll work closely with these provinces and cities. We hope to bring these children back at an earlier date," said Zhang, secretary of the Xinjiang regional committee of the Communist Party of China.
He said the regional government will also send teams to other areas of the country.
Once sent back, the children will be placed in government-run shelters and sent to school, according to Zhang.
The move is aimed at helping Xinjiang's vagrant children resume normal lives and restore the region's reputation, as the far western region is notoriously known as a source of "young robbers and thieves" in many cities.
"We all know Xinjiang has beautiful landscapes, and that many thieves who roam the streets of my city are from there," said Qu Weili, an office worker in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province.
Qu said her purse has been stolen three times by vagrant children from Xinjiang.
Despite the region's notoriety, many citizens also sympathized with the youngsters.
"They are victims themselves," said Li Yongliang, a resident of Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi Province.
Li said he once saw a boy fail to steal a man's wallet. "He was later slapped on the face by a middle-aged woman who seemed to be his employer. He was about 10 years old and looked like a Uygur (a Xinjiang ethnic minority)."
It is unclear how many stray children from Xinjiang roam the country, but the regional government's relief office said about 3,000 are sent back to Xinjiang every year.
A Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences report said at least 90 percent of these children are kidnapped victims. Most are from underdeveloped areas in southern Xinjiang, including Hotan, Aksu and Kashi, where child trafficking is rampant.
From April 23 to May 1, the regional government will send teams of investigators to search for vagrant children in 19 provinces and municipalities that regularly offer aid to Xinjiang, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong, Xinjiang's top official Zhang Chunxian said on Thursday.
"We'll work closely with these provinces and cities. We hope to bring these children back at an earlier date," said Zhang, secretary of the Xinjiang regional committee of the Communist Party of China.
He said the regional government will also send teams to other areas of the country.
Once sent back, the children will be placed in government-run shelters and sent to school, according to Zhang.
The move is aimed at helping Xinjiang's vagrant children resume normal lives and restore the region's reputation, as the far western region is notoriously known as a source of "young robbers and thieves" in many cities.
"We all know Xinjiang has beautiful landscapes, and that many thieves who roam the streets of my city are from there," said Qu Weili, an office worker in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province.
Qu said her purse has been stolen three times by vagrant children from Xinjiang.
Despite the region's notoriety, many citizens also sympathized with the youngsters.
"They are victims themselves," said Li Yongliang, a resident of Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi Province.
Li said he once saw a boy fail to steal a man's wallet. "He was later slapped on the face by a middle-aged woman who seemed to be his employer. He was about 10 years old and looked like a Uygur (a Xinjiang ethnic minority)."
It is unclear how many stray children from Xinjiang roam the country, but the regional government's relief office said about 3,000 are sent back to Xinjiang every year.
A Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences report said at least 90 percent of these children are kidnapped victims. Most are from underdeveloped areas in southern Xinjiang, including Hotan, Aksu and Kashi, where child trafficking is rampant.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
