Eleven-month-old Niuniu has been living with the other kids at Sun Children's Village in Shunyi District, on the outskirts of Beijing, for about a month. She looks delighted when she gets to ride on the back of a Saint Bernard dog belonging to a volunteer. Both the older kids and the caretaking "aunties" dote on her.
All the children living at Sun Children's Village have at least one thing in common: their parents are in prison.
"Niuniu's dad escaped from prison 10 years ago and was caught by the police
in Fujian Province a month ago with the baby. The police couldn't find Niuniu's mom, so they sent her to our village," said Zhang Ying, the village's assistant director.
Niuniu is the youngest of the 112 children living in the village. Eight of them are under the age of six.
Ma Yanwei's parents were sentenced to 15 years for abducting and trafficking children. Before coming to the village, Yanwei and his younger sister Yanhua lived with their 80-year-old grandfather. When their grandpa could no longer care for them, the local police knew who to contact: Zhang Suqin.
Zhang, 45, is the former deputy editor-in-chief of a newspaper published by the Shaanxi Province Prison Administration. Since 1995, she has been working tirelessly to set up villages and provide homes for the children of convicts.
The first children's village was opened nine years ago in Shaanxi. She now operates four villages, with the Beijing branch opening in Shunyi District in late 2000. She made a deal with the primary and middle schools in Banqiao Town, where the village is located, to waive tuitions fees for "her" kids. District officials cover the costs of their textbooks.
Zhang said that during her years working for the prison administration, she saw at first hand how the women inmates worried about their children: some escaped custody, the hair of others turned prematurely white, some lost their sanity. Zhang thought that if she could find a way to help them care for their kids, they would be more likely to reform.
At the same time, she believed, loving care for the children could help to break a cycle.
"If these children continue to be neglected and treated as outcasts of society, their traumatic experiences could lead them to build up resentment toward, and even hatred for, society. They could end up committing crimes just like their parents."
Although the children are in no way responsible for the wrongdoings of their parents, discrimination against them persists, particularly in rural areas.
Ma Yanwei and Yanhua remember the abrupt and cruel change in the way people treated them after their parents' imprisonment. Neighbors continually cursed them and no one was willing to reach out to help a criminal's child. Alienated, trying desperately to survive, they bummed around, stealing unripe cucumbers from the fields in spring, catching and eating frogs in summer, climbing trees to devour persimmons in autumn, and feeding on wheat seedlings in winter, like sheep.
"At that time, I hated everyone, including my parents. I believed my parents were the source of all this misery," Yanwei confessed.
About 400,000 criminal cases are tried around the country every year. Of those adults convicted, about 70 percent are married and have children, potentially affecting, at the very least, some 280,000 children.
Zhang Ying said that some of the children had witnessed one parent killing the other. Some were abandoned after their fathers or mothers were imprisoned; others were abused by their relatives, sometimes for years.
Systems are in place to provide care for orphans and abandoned babies in China, but only the prisoners' kids whose parents are dead qualify for social welfare. There are no regulations providing for their care, and in most cases relatives are simply expected to take them in.
"The civil affairs administrations don't have enough resources to provide adequate aid," said a volunteer whom the children call Aunt Su.
Ma Yanwei is now a senior at Banqiao High School. "I like the children's village, because I am well treated here. I don't have to worry about food and clothing, and I've even learned to use a computer here. I now feel I'm the same as other children."
Zhang Suqin provides more than a refuge for these kids: it is a real home
where they can grow up emotionally and physically healthy. But without government financial aid, Zhang has to seek funding wherever she can, including NGOs, enterprises and individuals.
"People call Zhang Suqin the Beggar Queen, but she doesn't care. She always tells us that our work has a positive impact, not only on society but also on the prisoners and their children. Criminals see hope when they realize their children are being well cared for. They feel grateful to society and want to repay (the kindness)," said Aunt Su.
Zhang Suqin rents 17 hectares of land where they plant jujubes, peanuts, corn and soybeans. She expects the money from selling these crops will solve some of the village's financial problems. The children are also encouraged to work on the land. "Farm work can help children build healthy bodies and also raise their self-confidence," said Zhang.
In another groundbreaking move, Zhang has implemented a pet therapy program at the village, with volunteers bringing their dogs to visit every weekend. The animals help some of the children there walk out of the shadows that have darkened their lives.
To date, Zhang has set up three children's villages in Shaanxi and one in Beijing, providing homes to 2,000 children of convicts.
"I don't know how to express my appreciation to Granny Zhang Suqin.
Without her help, I wouldn't have realized that even though I couldn't control the fate of my family, I can change my own fate for a better future. I will continue to work hard all the way through university," said Ma Yanwei.
(China.org.cn by staff reporter Wu Nanlan, December 20, 2004)
