Left-behind children in China - Global Affairs presentation Thursday evening

Prof. Kam Wing Chan

In China, a new generation of children is growing up in the countryside with only one or no parent around during most of the time of the year. They are called “left-behind children.”

Their population has grown to more than 60 million; half of them are between age 6 and 14. They are left behind because their parents have gone to work in the city, often hundreds of miles away from home.

Lacking day-to-day parental care and close guidance, the “left-behind” children face many problems and many of them get into trouble. Some develop psychological problems; others fall victims to bullying, physical or sexual abuse, or even serious accidents.

A presentation by Prof. Kam Wing Chan, Geography Department, University of Washington on Thursday evening explains how China’s special, “incomplete” urbanization policy and the hukou (household registration) system function in concert to produce a generation of “left-behind” children and “migrant children,” and their implications.

Thursday, February 18, 7pm, PUB Room 9208, Shoreline Community College, 16101 Greenwood Ave N, Shoreline 98155 (campus maps). Admission to the event is free and the community is welcomed. Parking is free in the evenings.

Presented by the Global Affairs Center at Shoreline Community College, directed by Larry Fuell.