Every Child is Entitled to a Dream (I)

- Zhen Xu & Fangxing Yi, 2008 Beijing Volunteers

When we typed Zhufang Village in the searching bar of the most 
authoritative Beijing public transportation system, it showed no 
result in its e-map. But that is definitely where we have to go. There is only 500 meters direct distance between Zhufang village and 
Shang Di Station of metro line 13. Without accessible buses, it took 
us a twenty-minute circuitous route arriving at Zhufang Village on 
foot. 
The distance isolates two different worlds.

It is a typical migrant worker ghetto. Muddy roads, litter dropped on 
the ground at will, and temporary structures, most of which have no 
bath room or automatic toilet. Public toilets line beside the road 
every hundred meter while public bath rooms dot among old dark grey 
dwellings. 
The reconstruction of Shang Di Xin Xi Road in 1998 gradually formed 
Zhufang village. With the construction of neighborhood and public 
facilities, it created considerable job opportunities. Soon it was 
swarmed by a large number of migrant workers. 
“They work as construction workers, or garbage-recyclers. Some run 
small business like retail stores. The increase of migrant population 
and insufficient management result in frequent theft.” Zhang Lan Ying, 
the director of Dong Sheng Township [where Zhufang Village is located 
in] said.

The constitution of population is very complex here. Zhufang Village 
Resident Administration takes over those who own Beijing Long Live 
certificate while Dong Sheng Township is in charge of the residents 
who only have Beijing temporary certificate, normally called migrant 
population. 
Zhufang Village is far from being affected by the information age. 
Some stands post words on the door said “2 Yuan to send an e-mail”. 
20 years ago, Hai Dian district set up the first High-tech Industry 
Development Zone in China and Xue Yuan road, gathering a great deal of 
the most well-known universities and colleges in China, is only 3 
kilometers away.

Early in 2006, Hai Dian Ministry of Education enforced the instruction 
of Beijing Ministry of Education that schools which enroll migrant 
children must reach the level of the standard of Beijing Elementary 
School Conditions. Otherwise, the schools will be shut down. Migrant 
children will be seemingly arranged to attend public school nearby. 
However, the unaffordable sponsorship fee shut the door for these 
kids. 
Due to the complexity of current migrant children education problem, 
Jin Hai He Elementary School is the only survivor of five migrant 
worker schools in Zhufang Village though its conditions are far from 
the standards of the regulation. 
According to statistics, there are more than 2000 migrant worker 
children in the Zhufang village. After the action nearly one-quarter 
of school-age children were obliged to leave Beijing and continued to 
receive education in their hometowns without parents. About three- 
quarters of children chose to stay and shared limited education 
resources in Zhufang district. 
“The only way migrant children absorb knowledge is through text books. 
There are no outdoor activities, no library and no reading programs in 
school. I bet children don’t have many books at home because their 
families are not rich. Some parents are even reluctant to buy exercise 
books for their kids.” Gui, the math teacher of Jin Hai He Elementary 
School said.

School has no library. Parents can not afford books. Some kids told us 
the only option of reading books is go to the 5th floor of Golden Five 
Star Supermarket before the New Century Library was built. There opens 
a small book store. Wang Yuan Yuan is one of these children going to the book store from 
time to time. It takes her 30 minutes to walk there. Now she is a 
frequent visitor to the New Century library. 
“Sellers kicked me out if I spent too much time in their store because 
I don’t have the money to buy books.” Yuan Yuan complained about the 
inconvenience of reading in the supermarket. Wang Yuan yuan, in grade 3, came to Beijing 4 years ago with her 
family. Her eyes shine bright and intelligent and wears a cute 
ponytail. 
“I did poorly in pre-school. But I always got number one since I 
started grade 1. Now I am a monitor.” She smiled proudly. 
She is hyperactive when she talks, turning around her body and even 
raising one of her legs to another chair. Besides childish behaviors 
sometimes, she is quiet, having sophisticated expression beyond her 
age in the eyes. 
“My father used to be a doctor in my hometown. I have two brothers and 
one sister. My father was afraid that policeman would punish us of 
having so many children so we ran to Beijing. ” 
It is quite normal to have more than one kid per family in Zhufang 
village.

Settling in Beijing means Wang Yuan Yuan’s parents have to find new 
means to make a living. Now they are living on selling vegetables. 
Her parents told us that they have to get up at 2 or 3 o’clock in the 
morning to buy fresh vegetables directly from farmers. Then they 
resell vegetables to retail vendors. If there aren’t enough vendors to 
buy their vegetables they have to work as vendors themselves until 
market closes. It is about 4 o’clock in the afternoon. 
The income from selling vegetables supports the family to bring up 
their four kids. 
“My parents are not always at home. But I can take care of my sister.” 
Taking care of the sister means sending her to school and picking her 
up, doing cooking and housework. Only after finishing these chores 
does Yuan Yuan have time to study. Yuan Yuan’s family lives in a room no bigger than 30 square meters 
which serves as bedroom, living room, as well as kitchen. In Zhufang 
Village, nearly 20 such rooms would only take up the space of a 
basketball field. 
Two beds take most areas of the room. Yuan Yuan’s parents, grandmother 
and 3 children (her elder brother went back to hometown), a total of 6 
people, sleep on them. No desk, not to mention book shelf.

Underdeveloped economy and lack of education resources leads to 
cooperation of Dream Corps and Wang Yi (headmaster of New 
Century Elementary School and the librarian of New Century Library) to build a library in 2004. New Century Library is the 
only place which offers books and space for kids with no charge in Zhufang village.

Dream Corps (DC) was registered in USA as a non-profit organization in pursuit of improving education equality in China. This year 
DC sent 30 volunteers to China. Most of them are students abroad and 
the second or third generation of immigrants  to America and Canada. 
During the volunteer program, DC bears project expenses, while 
volunteers have to pay for plane tickets and living expenses. Zhufang 
Village is one of their six sites. Others are in Sichuan, Hunan, 
Xiamen, Henan and Yunnan. From the training day at the beginning to 
the forum at the end, the project lasted for 27 days. There were more 
than 100 applications and only one-third of them met the requirements 
of the board. 
“Overseas students have a strong desire to serve their motherland. DC 
is a platform. Most of them keep memory of living in China and also 
have experiences in foreign countries. Sooner or later, identity 
recognition becomes a problem. They have to create identity 
recognition for themselves.” Chen Huaiyuan, the president of DC, 
said. Now he is pursuing doctor’s degree in pedagogy in University of 
Pennsylvania.

(to be continued)