Over the past few decades, more than 200 million people in rural China have migrated to the cities in search of work.

And as we've reported here on BON, this mass migration has resulted in thousands of children being left behind in rural villages. They are known as China’s "left-behind children". Now one Chinese province has set up a system to house those children.

Every year, thousands of children go missing from across China. Many of them are kidnapped and sold to rural families wanting a child. It’s a problem that leaves parents devastated … and desperately searching for answers. Sylvia Gunawan reports.

Kaarina Mackenzie, a nineteen-year-old American girl, who encountered a tough journey with her family to the Kuthor School located on the Tibetan border while on her summer vacation. At the school they met eighty children, all orphaned. Kaarina’s family had brought numerous items as gifts for the children, such as chopsticks, orange bowls, apples, cameras, and much more besides. The children, innocent to the wider world, were enthralled. Kaarina took many pictures of the children as they used their new toys, pulling funny faces for the camera. With these pictures, Kaarina returned to the United States and successfully raised money amongst friends to help the children of the Kuthor School.

About 30,000 to 60,000 children are reported missing in China every year. And though it is difficult to estimate how many of these are cases of human trafficking, the Supreme People’s Court concedes that trafficking of children is wide-spread and growing. With that in mind- Chinese authorities have begun taking greater action to convict those involved in the crime. In their latest report- the country’s top court revealed that the number of criminals convicted of human trafficking has risen sharply in the first seven months of this year. One of the latest cases solved by police was in the city of Guiyang- the capital of China’s Guizhou province. BON’s Kelda Yuen has more on this recent reunion of parents and children.

As the summer vacation is coming to its end, those migrant workers’ children who come to cities to spend the vacation with their parents, who are also known as migrant birds, are returning to their home town for school. As BON’s George Liu had found, the migrant birds’ vacation is quite different from those children from cities.

Amid the fanfare of China's arrival on the global scene as a vigorous economic power, it is easily forgotten that it is still home to many millions of poor people.

Some 50 million of these are children whose families cannot even afford to feed them an egg per day. But that could be about to change, thanks to a new charity initiative. BON's Tom Spender has more.

It's a touching song, but you couldn't blame these children if they struggled to match the lyrics with their surroundings.

Pupils at Long Hai, one of an estimated 300 schools for migrant children nestled on the dusty outskirts of Beijing, they're more likely to see smog than blue sky. Building sites have replaced anything that resembled beauty and for most, the only friends they have are the ones in this classroom.

That's because these kids are treated largely as second class citizens in their country's capital. Most regular public schools in the city won't accept them – despite government pressure to do so. Few of them are entitled to health insurance and most face discrimination simply because they are from a different part of the country. 

Like parents anywhere, the Chinese dote on their children. Little wonder then that a series of kidnappings in southern China, some of which ended in murder, have caused outrage. Facing a barrage of criticism, Guangdong police have launched a crackdown. BON's Tom Spender has more.