Lawmaker calls for end to issue of left-behind children

GUIYANG - When rape flowers begin to blossom in the rugged fields of Southwest China, people know it is time to depart. Young mothers and fathers leave home to find jobs, with toddlers and teenagers being left in the hands of elderly grandparents.

For people in Dazhai village in Guizhou province's Bijie city, spring has always brought a sense of hope along with a sense of the inescapable sorrow of separation. The village is home to more than 2,200 people, mostly of Miao ethnicity, and the most common way for villagers to escape poverty is to find jobs elsewhere.

Cai Qun, a 36-year-old mother, repeatedly experienced such departures before becoming a creative embroidery artist and a successful entrepreneur.