By Zhang Nan and Yin Hang

As the last of 10 million young Chinese finished perhaps the biggest exam of their lives yesterday, the Global Times examines three examples of young people’s lives and problems.

No 5 Primary School of the Kunming Iron & Steel Group enjoy sports day on December 4, 2008. Photo: courtesy of the school

18,500 accidental deaths a year

Behind the thin white curtain, the wailing persisted. Little Zhu, 11 months old, had to be kept behind bacteria-proof gauze at the Children’s Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, wrote reporter Zhang Shu of Hangzhou Daily.

Blisters covered his body, some as big as grapes, others like ripe cherries. Some sections of his skin were red, others black the size of his father’s palm.

They had tied his hands and feet to the bed frame to prevent chafing of the 25 percent burns.

The wailing went on. Sat outside, little Zhu’s father recalled, “I was cooking noodles with the rice cooker this morning.

“When the water boiled, I wanted to add some vegetables to it, so I left the cooker. My kid was in a baby-walker nearby.

“While I was washing the vegetables, I heard him screaming. I rushed in and found the cooker, the walker and my baby all over the ground.”

Still, the wailing went on.

The father turned toward his boy. “My son held the cooker flex in his hand, and he was wet from head to toe. The boiling water was streaming on his little arms and legs.”

Due to the severe burns, Zhu had been transferred from two hospitals – Xiashadongfang Hospital and Jianqiao hospital – both of which could not handle the severity of the situation.

The wailing had not stopped.

“Parents always think this is an accident,” Jiang Runsong, a doctor in the burns surgery department, told Hangzhou Daily.

“As a matter of fact, it’s inevitable.

“In many cases, parents’ negligence made this happen.”

Accidents are the no.1 cause of under 14-year-old children’s deaths in China, according to a 2008 study by Song Wenzhen, chief director of the Children’s Department of the National Working Committee of Women and Children under the State Council. She found every year in China about 10 million children suffer serious accidents: 100,000 die and 400,000 become disabled.

“The dead are just the tip of iceberg,” said Lou Jianhua, director of Shanghai Children’s Medical Center.“Under the iceberg is a huge number of injured children.”

Song found among 28,000 residents in 18 Beijing areas, 139 children were seriously injured every day. Burns were the main killer. Drowning and road accidents came next. More than 18,500 Chinese mainland children die every year in road accidents: 2.5 times higher than Europe and 2.6 times more than the United States.

“Schools and kindergartens should train students on safety sense and skills,” Song wrote in her report. Education on health and safety is an efficient way of avoiding many of these types of accidents, she claimed.

Deaf children in Hebei Province celebrate Children’s Day on May 27. Photos: CFP

She avoids eye contact

First the strangers whipped her. She screamed at the top of her lungs, but no one came to save her. All of her classmates stood around laughing at her, but still no one came to save her.

As a victim of the now well-publicized sex trade scandal of Xishui county, Guizhou Province – in which 11 schoolgirls were reportedly forced into the sex trade and raped for months – the anonymous 15-year-old the Chinese media have named “Wangqing” still suffers nightmares.

The nightmares linger like the 4-centimeter-scar on her left wrist, reminding her of a life she once yearned to end. Almost any reference to that time still makes her break down and weep.

Wangqing, her classmates said, has changed. She used to have a pleasant personality. She won’t talk to her friends. She avoids direct eye contact with strangers, said her teacher.

“Some boys in my school laughed at me,” Wangqing reportedly told China Youth Daily. “The world is terrifying. I want to become a policewoman. I want to punish those bad guys.”

No nationwide data is available about how many sex assault cases happened nationwide on juveniles last year, but Guangdong Province alone handled more than 300 cases of child sexual assault in 2008, China National Radio reported on May 30.

The Beijing Juvenile Legal Aid and Research Center conducted research into 340 juvenile sex assault cases between 2006 and 2008. More than 68 percent of crimes had been committed by the victims’ acquaintances, the report found.

About 11 percent of the victims in the 340 cases had fallen into prostitution, but more than 80 percent were forced into it.

The ignorance of the child’s guardian accounted for a preventable 20 percent of the 340 cases. The report also suggested legislation and law enforcement departments work together on regulating and streamlining investigation and enforcement. Above all, the rights of the juvenile must be protected.

China Youth Daily reporter Chen Qiang conducted a long-term investigative interview into the Xishui sex scandals. He told the Global Times that in some cases, classmates’, teachers’ and parents’ attitude towards the victims placed them under long-term stress.

“One victim told me that she hated her father and her classmate,” said Chen. “They looked down upon her although they didn’t say anything.”

Professor Li Xiaowen of the School of Psychology and Cognitive Science of Eastern China Normal University in Shanghai suggested teachers and family members should create a friendly environment for victims.

“The first thing for those people around the victims is that they should get rid of their old stereotypes about virginity.

“Victims will become more sensitive than before. Therefore, disgust at their intimacies may contribute to further deterioration of their mental condition,” said Li.

Migrant workers’ children in Liaoning Province celebrate Children’s Day on May 27. Photos: CFP

‘We teachers must stand up’

Access to school for students became easier after a new provincial regulation making nine-year compulsory education free for qualified students came out in 2007.

Yang Hongxing, whose parents are construction workers, is a grade-five student at No 5 Primary School of the Kunming Iron & Steel Group. He moved to the provincial capital city Kunming with his family from Zhaotong, a stagnant city of northeast Yunnan Province last year.

“I took an entrance exam with my friends. They are migrant students too,” Yang said in a crisp, rural accent. “But I was the only one who passed the exam. They now are in schools not as good as this one.”
“As long as they have a hukou certificate,” Luo Hongtao, school principal, told the Global Times, “they can get the examination opportunity, no matter whether their hukou is local or not.”

A hukou refers to the system of residency permits required by law which officially identifies a Chinese person as resident of an area and includes identifying information such as the name of the person, date of birth, the names of parents, and name of spouse, if married.

A child’s hukou is linked to the school he can attend, his access to health insurance and the jobs he might one day obtain. Despite many attempts by government, the children of migrant workers typically cannot attend the same schools as children with a local hukou.

Yang’s school is located at the conjuction of the city of Kunming with the village of Lianran, a place with many migrants from neighboring towns and provinces like Sichuan and Guizhou. At the school, 436 of 494 students are from migrant workers’ families.

“The total number of students has doubled in three years,” said Luo. “In 2006, there were only about 200 students.”

The new regulation on children’s education contributed to the soaring numbers. Said Luo Hongtao, “The China government has carried out a policy since 2007. It exempted all students’ tuition in primary school and junior high school.”

Huang Yueqiong, a veteran mathematics teacher who has been at the school more than 13 years, told the Global Times that students used to pay 250 yuan ($40) for one year’s tuition.

“But now, they only have to pay 30 yuan for drinking water every year. And they can choose to pay for daily milk or not.”

While the tuition exemption opened the door to wider education, the school shoulders a heavier workload and responsibility.

“Migrant parents are all willing to send their kids to our school,” said Luo. “But they change workplaces very often, and so sometimes we have 50 students signed out and another 50 signed in.”

“I’ve seen some parents leave their kids and head off for work in another town for days at a time,” said Huang. “The kids were taken care of by nobody. Poor kids! At that moment, we teachers must stand up and take on the responsibility.”

“Migrants’ kids in my class are cute. They are polite. They study hard. Every time we do classroom cleaning, they are the most hardworking,” said Huang. “But a few kids I’ve taught before were poorly home-educated. For such kids, schooling is definitely a good choice.”

“I like it here,” said Yang, his sun-kissed face shining bright in the daylight. “Students used dirty words in my hometown, but in my new school here, I have learned a lot of politeness and decency.”