Jim Yardley wrote a very good story on the New York Times:
Yang Shan is in fourth grade and spends a few hours every day practicing her Chinese characters. Her script is neat and precise, and one day, instead of drills, she wrote letters to her parents and put them in the mail.
“How is your health?” she asked.
Shan, who is 10, then added a more pointed question: “What is happening with our family?”
Her parents had left in March. Their absence was not new in Shan’s short life. Her father, Yang Heqing, has left four times for work. He is now in Beijing on a construction site. Her mother, Ran Heping, has left three times. She is in a different city as a factory worker.
The full story is here.
