Editor's Note:
A Kokang sugar cane farmer can normally bring in up to 100,000 yuan ($16,120) a year. However, most of this year’s harvest was either burnt by Myanmar government troops or abandoned as farmers fled to China. Kokang refugees are now left with no choice but to work as low wage laborers for Chinese farmers.
The streets of Yanglongjai remain empty after violence broke out in Kokang. Photo: Cui Meng/GT 
Li Tinghui, a Kokang farmer who fled to China with her family to escape the ongoing violence in Myanmar, harvests sugar cane for Chinese farmers in Zhenkang county, Lincang, Yunnan Province on March 21. Li would have been harvesting her own sugar cane field of more than 30 mu (two hectares) in Kokang had it not been for the conflict. She instead earns 20 yuan ($3.2) to 30 yuan ($4.8) a day as a farmhand. Photo: Cui Meng/GT 
Xiao Yan, 11, son of Li Tinghui, works on a sugar cane field in Zhenkang county, Lincang, Yunnan Province on March 21. The fifth grader often helps his mother with farm work on weekends. Photo: Cui Meng/GT 
A Kokang refugee struggles to carry a bundle of sugar cane in Zhenkang county of Lincang, Yunnan Province on March 21. Sugar cane and tea are staple crops for farmers living near the China-Myanmar border. A Kokang sugar cane farmer can normally bring in up to 100,000 yuan ($16,120) a year. However, most of this year’s harvest was either burnt by Myanmar government troops or abandoned as farmers fled to China. Kokang refugees are now left with no choice but to work as low wage laborers for Chinese farmers. Photo: Cui Meng/GT 
A Kokang refugee works in a sugar cane field in Zhenkang county, Lincang, Yunnan Province on March 21. Photo: Cui Meng/GT 
A Kokang child cries in a sugar cane field in Zhenkang county, Lincang, Yunnan Province on March 21. Photo: Cui Meng/GT 
A Kokang refugee farmer rests on stacked bundles of sugar cane in Zhenkang county, Lincang, Yunnan Province on March 21. Photo: Cui Meng/GT 
Photo: Cui Meng/GT 
Photo: Cui Meng/GT 
Photo: Cui Meng/GT
