Many left-behind children like Fuman live with their grandparents. Scores of rural schools have been shut in recent years, forcing many children to travel long distances to attend classes. Those difficulties contribute to high dropout rates among rural children, a crisis that is hurting China’s ability to train a highly skilled work force. “There are so many similar incidents of hardship for left-behind children in China every day,” said Kam Wing Chan, a professor at the University of Washington who studies China’s rural-urban divide. Students at Fuman’s school told state news outlets that they lacked clothing to stay warm, and that it was common for their hair to freeze during their long commutes.

Source: New York Times January 13, 2018 11:20 UTC