After a young boy from Yunnan went viral on Chinese social media earlier this week for his “icy looks” after walking 4.5 kilometers to school in the freezing cold while his parents are out working in the city, the story of another young Chinese migrant child is now making its rounds on Weibo.
This time it concerns the 7-year-old boy named Chang Jiang (长江) who works as a ‘kuaidi’ (快递) express delivery boy in a district of Qingdao city.
Chinese media outlet Pear Video (@梨视频) reports that the boy’s father has passed away due to illness and that his mother has been remarried, and has since been out of touch with her son.
The boy is now living with his father’s former colleague, his “uncle,” whom he started helping in his daily work as a kuaidi. After a while, Chang Jiang got so experienced in delivering packages that he is now doing the work by himself.
The boy is delivering around 30 packages a day in Qingdao’s Shibei district and has become somewhat of a local celebrity. Chang Jiang told reporters that he was happy doing his job and still wants to be a delivery man when he grows up.
Since a video on Chang Jiang’s story has gained wide attention in the Chinese media, local authorities stated that they would look into how to get Chang Jiang to go to school, and that they are helping the boy to get back in touch with his mother. The boy has a rural ‘hukou’ (household registration) and has no access to public education in Qingdao.
“First the ice boy, now the kuaidi boy,” a typical comment on Weibo said: “How many of these children are out there?”
Although a nine-year education is compulsory in China, children with a rural hukou (registration) have restricted access to public schools and social services in urban areas; this means that many children of migrant workers in the cities receive no formal education.
It also is one of the reasons why some parents leave their children behind in their hometowns to be looked after by grandparents or elder siblings when they go out to work in urban areas.
According to the latest reports, Chang’s mother has not been found yet. One school in Qingdao, however, has offered to take Chang in as a student.
On Weibo, many people speak out in support for Chang Jiang and his ‘uncle,’; they also condemn the boy’s mother: “The mother does not take any responsibility – what a poor kid! I just hope a bright future awaits him.”
By Manya Koetse
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