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BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- A growing population in China have enjoyed a fatter income thanks to rapid economic development in the past few years. But the country's incomplete social welfare system means there are many still struggling to make ends meet.
CCTV reporter Ning Hong travels to Zanhuang county of Hebei Province, and highlights the predicament of a seven-year-old.
Only seven years old, Li Xiaoqian carries a heavy burden. She is the sole caretaker of her parents - a blind father and mother with mental diseaese.
“What can I say, she knew that I couldn’t do it, so she undertakes all the hard work,” said Li Shuying, father of Li Xiaoqian.
Li’s family receives 300 Yuan of income insurance each month. The paltry income is supplemented by harvest from these 40 walnut trees. Such austerity means that Li counts each penny spent, most of which goes to food. Instant noodles are considered a treat.
“There are instant noodles at 98 grams that are sold for one Yuan, the other kind retails at two Yuan- I prefer to buy the cheaper ones,” Li said.
Li shoulders a responsibility fit for an adult. As she teaches her mother to read, her role as a child is seemingly reversed with her parent.
“When I slept by her side once, my mum hugged me with a hand placed on me. I felt so warm and happy,” she said.
The new school semester has began and Li has managed to procure a place at a boarding school without any charge. The family is now faced with a predicament. Should the girl attend school, the parents would be left in the lurch. But her father is insisting that Li’s education is more important.
“I would rather suffer more than have her waste a future by taking care of me," the father said.
With education as a path out of poverty, the child understands that she carries all of her family’s aspirations for a better life and hopes she can become a doctor some day.
Poverty in China involves a multitude of different factors. Sickness and low income render individuals at risk, while donations from charity don’t solve the root causes. As the country lacks a safety net for welfare, it needs to enact more channels and mechanisms from insitutions to assist families to break out of the cycle.
(Source: CNTV.cn)
