Down from the Mountains (Reader-Friendly Version)

With their parents at work far away, the children of the Wang family are raising themselves

By Max Duncan on October 31, 2017

At 14 years old, Wang Ying doesn’t want to be a mother. She scowls darkly as her younger brother and sister squabble in the corner while she does the housework. But she grudgingly cleans up after them and cooks them a potato stew, which they eat with rice crouched together on the mud floor of their farmhouse. The house is perched right on the edge of a steep valley, so that when the rainstorms roll in across the mountains, you can sometimes look out the front door and see nothing at all.

Down From the Mountains

With their parents at work far away, the children of the Wang family are raising themselves

By Max Duncan on October 31, 2017

At 14 years old, Wang Ying doesn’t want to be a mother. She scowls darkly as her younger brother and sister squabble in the corner while she does the housework. But she grudgingly cleans up after them and cooks them a potato stew, which they eat with rice crouched together on the mud floor of their farmhouse. The house is perched right on the edge of a steep valley, so that when the rainstorms roll in across the mountains, you can sometimes look out the front door and see nothing at all.

Topics: 
Economy
Education
Rural Life
Society
Keywords: 
Sichuan
Left-Behind Children
Migrant Workers
Migrant Labor
Migrants
Child Welfare
Children
Child Abuse
Family

Max Duncan

on October 29, 2017

Max Duncan is an award-winning British journalist, filmmaker, and director of photography, producing documentaries and features with a particular focus on China, where he has worked for almost a decade. His recent work has been featured by media including The Guardian, The New York Times, The Telegraph, VICE, Al Jazeera, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and Bloomberg. He previously reported for five years as a video journalist for Reuters news agency, based in Beijing.

Max divides his time between China and Europe, and speaks Mandarin and Spanish.

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