Children take a vacation with a twist

Many youngsters have spent their summer holiday watching, and sometimes helping, their parents in a factory in Fujian province. Zhang Yizhi and Xia Xiao report for Xinhua.

Summer is not usually the busiest season of the year, yet it is the most boisterous time in a clothing factory in the eastern province of Fujian, not just because of the clanking machines, but also thanks to a group of exuberant children.

Carrying a stack of lining fabric in her little hands, Wang Jingjing galloped up the stairs to the fifth floor where her parents were laboring over a pile of half-made jackets.

For the 6-year-old and her older sister Wang Lian, running errands for their parents is a privilege they have to compete for. This time, the younger sister won after a game of rock-paper-scissors.

Her 14-year-old sibling feigned a sulky expression after losing the game, but she sat down on a stool beside her mother and started to do her homework.

The sisters are part of a group called "little migratory birds" - children left behind in their rural homes who travel to cities to spend the holidays with their family.

Their parents work for Shishi Jinlilaisi Garment Co, a clothing manufacturer in the city of Shishi in Fujian, about 750 kilometers from their hometown of Jiujiang, Jiangxi province.

Every summer, tens of thousands of little migratory birds "fly" thousands of kilometers to enjoy a precious two-month family reunion at their parents' workplaces in Fujian, Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces.