When Kaikai's father left the remote, undeveloped Wumeng Mountain area of Guizhou province that they live in to look for work in coastal Fujian province, he left the boy and his family behind and has been out of contact with them since his phone stopped working, leaving the family to worry about him.
But, Kaikai is not alone in this situation and the poverty of the mountainous area has attracted a lot of attention from the outside world in recent times, and not for its stagnant economy, but the likes of Kaikai whose parents left home to find work in the big city.
But, one especially bad case that happened on Jan 9 of this year, really got attention when four young ended their lives by poisoning themselves because their parents migrated to coastal cities to make a living for the family. These young innocents missed the love and care of their parents and lost contact with their parents.
In Kaikai's case, his father has only been back home twice in the last decade, and one official in the nearby city of Bijie, Luo Zhongke, highlighted the predicament of these left-behind children and explained, "I got in contact with Kaikai’s father via a friend of mine."
But the lonesome boy is strange and doesn't feel intimate with his father, who explained in an unsure, embarrassed way, "He's 5-years-old and I'm not a good father, and too far away to be a good one."
Kaikai and his sibling have to be taken care of by village officials, but, according to Luo, "The love of society is never as strong as that from parents, and the only solution is to persuade their parents to stay with them."
Another child from the village, 13-year-old Dandan, is a bit more fortunate and gets a call from her parents three times a day to show their care for her at home and neighbors and relatives invite her to have meals together.
