Xiao Huanhuan, a sixth grade student at the Qifeng No.1 Primary School in Anma Village of Anlong County, China's Guizhou province, is different in the eyes of Ju Hui.

Ju Hui was Xiao Huanhuan's first grade teacher, but more important, she is also her 'agent parent' at the "Children's Happy Home".

"When her parents were divorced in 2010, Xiao Huanhuan was only five years old," Ju said, "Her father alone can't manage to take care of her ."

Xiao huanhuan's father is working as a migrant worker in Fujian province. He makes money to pay back college loan for Huanhuan's older sister, leaving Huanhuan alone at village.

Huanhuan boards at school during week days and has to go back to her uncle's home at weekends.

"The family has a loan of more than RMB30,000, and there is nobody else but only her uncle taking care of her."

Knowing well Huanhuan's family background, Ju treats her just like her own daughter.

"I hope I could have a reunion dinner at my home during the Spring Festival, the Chinese traditional lunar New Year," said Xiao Huanhuan, as her father didn't come back to spend the most important Chinese family reunion festival with her for two years.

In March 2016, the Chinese authorities carried out an investigation on left behind children in China's rural areas. The subjects were children less than sixteen years old with rural household registration and their parents were both migrant workers, or one parent was a migrant worker.

The result showed that as of November 2016, the number of rural left behind children across China amounted to 9.02 million. Among them, 80.5 million children, or 89.3 percent, were in their grandparents' custody, and 300,000 were under guardianship by relatives and friends, 3.3 percent of the total.

From the perspective of scope, the number of left behind children in central China was 4.63 million, accounting for 51.33 percent; the figure in west China reached 3.52 million, or 39.02 percent of the total.

The phenomenon of left behind children occurred at a specific period along China's process of urbanization, said Zhang Liu, deputy head of Beijing Normal University's China Philanthropy Research Institute. "People in rural areas find it hard to improve living conditions only relying on farming, and they tend to go to cities for development where resources and enterprises gather."

Hungry for family affection and lack of communication

The six-year old girl Jin Zihan in Anma Village is also a left behind child facing similar situation like Xiao Huanhuan.

Her parents are working in Zhejiang province as migrant workers and sent back RMB400 to her every month. Living with her uncle, she cried every time when she was on a video chat with her parents.

"She was unwilling to talk to people and never greeted when visitors came," her uncle said.

This was changed when the "Children's Happy Home", a venue for children to stay, study, and play opened in Anma Village on July 7.

Jin Zihan's uncle sent her to the Children's Happy Home when she was in vacation, where she read books, did handwork, and communicated with other children. "I was excited to see she was willing to talk and became happy after the vacation was over," the uncle said.

The "Children's Happy Home" program provides children with a safer venue for study and entertainment during the winter and summer vacation or after school. There are personnel looking after children at the venue.

"We want to find 'agent parents' in communities and enterprises to look after the left behind children at our "Children's Happy Home", said Dai Jian, head of Anlong County Women's Federation. The home's each volunteer looks after 2-4 children as 'agent parent' and they make up family affection those left behind children lacked during their childhood.

Apart from giving affection to left behind children, the home also serves as a place where children can talk to each other and regain confidence.

Left behind children usually lack confidence, talk little, and tend to be pessimistic. Most of them are very solitary, said Yu Mei, a Chinese teacher with over 20 years of teaching experience in Haizhuang Village, Anlong County.

Without parents' company, left behind children feel lonely and lack self-confidence, said Zhang Liu, deputy head of Beijing Normal University's China Philanthropy Research Institute.

National Women's Federation and the CCTF launched the public welfare project "Children's Happy Home" in 2014, and have established Children's Happy Home in villages, counties, and communities.

"We are in remote areas and a lot of people work outside, leaving illiterate old people and children at home. There is huge gap in alternate-generation education." said Dai Jiang, talking about Anlong County's initial intention to establish the "Children's Happy Home".

The Anma Village, Haizhuang Village and Beixiang Village of Anlong County have had their "Children's Happy Home." There are 355 left-behind children in total in the three villages, and 286 of them have already been to the "Children's Happy Home", Dai added.

The home is also serving as a platform to gather resources and bring more care and services to left behind children.