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Cartoons illustrate challenges for Chinese kids

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-06-01 16:16
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Editor's note:

Children's Day arrived amid warm breezes and summertime blooms. However, besides being a time for fun and games for kids and their parents, the day is a chance to ponder child welfare and encourage action to ensure our society's youngest and most vulnerable are well looked after. Below, cartoonists highlight some of the issues worrying parents and teachers alike. 

Cartoon: http://cartoon.chinadaily.com.cn/

Cartoons illustrate challenges for Chinese kids
This cartoon by Zhang Hongyan implies children, like adults, experience both happiness and unhappiness, often related to their academic performances in school.
Cartoons illustrate challenges for Chinese kids
 
This cartoon by Hao Yanping depicts a child carrying a heavily loaded school bag, looking enviously at retirees exercising in a playground. A number of surveys have found that children are unhappy due to long school hours and growing pressure from parents to study hard.

Cartoons illustrate challenges for Chinese kids
This cartoon by Jin Yan suggests parents sometimes expect too much of their children and hope to feed everything they know into a young child's mind. 
Cartoons illustrate challenges for Chinese kids
 
This cartoon by Hai Chun shows parents who migrate to work in big cities and leave their children behind in their hometown. A survey conducted by the All-China Women's Federation earlier this year found that there are 58 million such left-behind children in the country's rural areas, of which 40 million are younger than 14 years old. 

Cartoons illustrate challenges for Chinese kids
This cartoon by Liang Qiu urges society to provide safe toys for children. On May 27, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine published the results of tests on its website, saying 20 of the 242 toys it picked at random from markets in Hebei, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Shandong, Hubei and Guangdong did not meet national mandatory quality requirements.
Cartoons illustrate challenges for Chinese kids
 
This cartoon by Chen Wen warns that fast food can encourage obesity in children.

 

Cartoons illustrate challenges for Chinese kids
This cartoon by Liu Lijie highlights the high tuition fees charged by elementary schools. 

Cartoons illustrate challenges for Chinese kids
This cartoon by Wang Guichao raises concerns over the lack of space for children’s playgrounds as skyscrapers increasingly dominate cityscapes.