Boy, 8, makes 10,000 wontons a day to boost family income
Liu Minghui and his six-year-old sister help their grandparents run a makeshift market kiosk while their migrant-worker parents scratch a living in another city
An eight-year old boy in eastern China has been made more than 10,000 wontons a day to help the family income, China News Services reports.
Liu Minghui, an eight-year old boy in made more than 10,000 wontons a day to supplement the family income, China News Services reports.
During the national holiday, when school was closed for seven days from October 1, Liu Minghui and his six-year old sister accompanied their grandparents to the market Ruijin, Jiangxi province at the dawn to set up a small kiosk selling wontons, hand made dumplings served in broth.
While the grandparents tended the stove and served the hot food to customers, Liu stood by a bamboo tray with a bowl of stuffing and a pile of wrappers, forming the wontons by hand during the morning rush hours and at lunch time, making at least 10,000 dumplings each day.
His small sister was busy as well, clearing bowls and chopsticks from the table as soon as customers finished their meals.
When the day’s work finished, Liu helped his grandparents pack the tables and seats into a small cart which they pushed home, where they laid out the money that they had earned on a table to count the notes and coins carefully.
The children’s parents work away from home in a big city, according to the report. Their occupation was not known, but the money they sent home was not too much judging by the condition of the family.
Liu and his sister are among China’s legions of liushou ertong, or “left-behind children”. Many parents in impoverished rural areas or underdeveloped towns have little choice but to head for the big cities for cash-paying jobs, leaving their children in the care of ageing, and often impoverished, grandparents.
Many big cities do not allow the children of migrant workers to attend local schools.
There is no official number of China’s left-behind children vary widely, but it is believed to be between 60 million to 100 million.
They are among the country’s most vulnerable children. Many are mistreated, and there have been reports of children abused, committing suicide and even found frozen to death in a garbage dumpsters.
Social workers and health professionals have complained that the mental health and welfare of the liushou ertong has long been neglected by the government.