CHINA'S Children
left-behind, hukou-less or orphaned
Occassionally, a foreign media outlet releases a news package that doesn't conform to either side of the China polemic. It is no small skill to effectively navigate the turbulent waters of China's press protocol and still maintain any semblance of objectivity. When it happens, the quality of journalism speaks for itself. This week, the Guardian published a mini-doc looking at the left-behind children of China's prison system.
The Children of China's Prison System
May 24, 2016
The plight of China's left-behind, hukou-less or orphaned children is not usually one of the areas in which the foreign press tends to exhibit any sign of cultural sensitivity. In cases of neglect or abuse, actual or imagined, the foreign press is generally unanimous in its application of the principle of 'universal' human rights, as dictated by the beliefs of predominantly western nations. Such an approach, however, often comes across as culturally imperialist, in some cases blantantly racist.
That is not to say that there is no value in some elements of the human rights objectives of many 'developed' nations. An emphasis on the sactity of life and protection of the vulnerable are particularly important elements of life in a socially successful nation. It is also important for investigative journalists, such as those who filmed and produced the imfamous Dying Rooms in 1995, to uncover, expose and lobby against such abuses of the vulnerable. However, it is neither useful nor instructive to highlight instances of abuse, without attempting to understand the deep-rooted socio-political background that precedes it. In this, the Guardian mini-doc has been particularly successful in identifying the lack of political identity which will follow these children through whatever education they may recieve.
Without a hukou, an individual's registration and form of ID, the children of China's prisoners will be unable to attend or even graduate from school, let alone apply for university. Those without a hukou will be unable to receive healthcare, and unable to receive any government support throughout their lives. In China, it is estimated that 13 million citizens are currently unregistered in China. Many are unable to exist as a legal political entity in China as a result of the One Child Policy, which rendered any child born outside of the policy hukou-less. In this sense, some orphans may consider themselves luckier than the children of prisoners or second-born sons and daughters, as they are able to attain a legal identity more easily.
The international media are just beginning to scratch the surface of the issues facing China's left-behind children, and such balance as evidenced in the Guardian mini-doc is an absolute necessity for dealing with such difficult and pervasive social problems.