From Christian Science Monitor:
If you are going to gather a set of outcast children in China, provide them decent food, a sense of family, and moments to laugh – all with zero official support – you’d better be plenty tough.
But for Zhang Shuqin, being tough, or simply smart, isn’t enough. A commitment to her children requires something special: A steady fight for their innocence in the face of crime and punishment.
Ms. Zhang’s 250 kids live in four “villages” in north China that she started. The children exist in a little regarded category: The offspring of convicted criminals still behind bars. Five-year-old Ade Li Jiang, who proudly wears a backpack that dwarfs him, has both parents in jail for drug dealing. Relatives don’t want him. Xiao Qin and Xiao Yan, sisters who seem to delight in their small corn-planting project, arrived here after their mother killed their father. [Full Text]