As they head to the booming cities in search of better jobs and higher incomes, many migrant workers reluctantly decide to leave their children behind in the countryside. For the kids, the absence of their parents leads to psychological and behavioral problems, according to a senior official on women and children's affairs.

Gu Xiulian, president of the All-China Women's Federation said on Thursday that there are now 20 million children in the countryside pining for their absent parents. They make up 18 percent to 22 percent of rural children.

The federation is carrying out a survey on the living conditions of children in 12 provinces and municipalities. Gu said the survey will provide material for inter-ministerial research on the issue.

Preliminary results show that 1.8 million children aged seven to 18 in rural Hebei Province have been left behind by their parents.

The survey found that the school records of 80 percent of the children were poor or mediocre, and 20 percent of them had acquired bad habits such as telling lies, disobeying school rules or fighting.

Gai Chunrui, an official with the federation's Hebei Branch, said that in 80 percent of the single-parent families it was the father who had left for the city to find a job. In families where both parents had left for the city, 63 percent of the children were looked after by their grand-parents, and 32 percent had been entrusted to the care of friends and relatives.

There are now about 140 million migrant workers in China. The parents dream of offering their kids a better life by getting better pay from a city job. But, as their absence runs into months and years, the children's emotional and psychological needs are overlooked.

A survey conducted in six villages in east China's Anhui Province in 2005 showed that of the 1,180 students polled, nearly 60 percent had psychological problems. About 30 percent of the 1,180 children said they "resented" or even "hated" their parents.

(Xinhua News Agency September 15, 2006)