Lonely vacations

Now that the basic facts surrounding the case have become clear, calls have been made for more efforts and extra care to be taken to solve social problems involving so-called empty villages and left-behind children - those left in rural areas with their grandparents as their parents seek work in cities.

Zhang Zixin's father works in Tianjin throughout the year, while her mother, who left her when she was 2 to work in a factory in Dongguan, Guangdong, said she had not seen her daughter for four years as she and Zhang Jun were seeking a divorce.

Amid China's economic boom over the past 30 years, many young people in rural areas have left poor villages to live and work in towns or cities, leaving their children in the care of grandparents.

Xinhua News Agency reported last week that as of the end of August, some 6.97 million children had been left in rural homes by parents who moved to cities to support their families.

While their urban peers are busy attending summer camps or training classes during the summer vacation, millions of children in rural areas face lonely and sometimes dangerous holidays if left unattended and without sufficient support, both emotional and physical.

One rural primary school teacher, who requested anonymity, said, "For rural kids, their summer vacation equates to a summer hibernation". Perhaps that's why the surveillance camera footage of Zhang Zixin in Xiangshan showed her smiling and happy.

On Monday, a China Youth Daily article called for the launch of a summer vacation reporting system for rural children, so they can be better protected and placed under the supervision of village authorities and the police to safeguard them from accidents and attack.

Speaking in March during this year's two sessions, Yu Liufen, a grassroots member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee from Guizhou province, said that the lack of young people in villages has become one of the major factors hampering economic and social development in rural areas.