A charity which cares for the offspring of convicts is operating in a legal limbo
In a quiet town in Beijing's outlying Shunyi district, a former police officer and her team are trying to make sure the sins of imprisoned parents are not visited on their children.
Zhang Shuqin , 56, has spent the past nine years establishing the mainland's first - and only - network of shelters for children of convicted criminals in Beijing, Henan and Shaanxi . More than 600 children have entered the network's six shelters.
Ms Zhang's concern for prisoners' children was aroused 20 years ago in Shaanxi when she was deputy editor-in-chief of a provincial prison administration publication. Prisoners repeatedly told her of their fears for their children, and for some the anxiety drove them to attempt suicide or a jailbreak.
With its vegetable patch and jujube trees, the Beijing Sun Village is home to 116 youngsters, ranging from infants to adolescents.
Most of the children's parents are serving terms of at least 15 years for various crimes, including murder, rape, drug smuggling and human trafficking. Many of the children were left on their own because their mothers had killed their fathers in revenge for long-term domestic violence or affairs.
