All over China, you see children wearing red scarves around their necks.

The red scarf indicates that these students are members of a special Communist Party organization just for children aged 6-14– the Young Pioneers.

The red color represents the blood sacrificed by martyrs of the Revolution. I’m not sure how much the children really understand of the significance of the scarf. It’s almost more of an accessory to their school day dress.  Because it’s so cheerful, even  I hardly consider the deeper meanings.  I simply think, “There is a child coming home from school.”

If you buy one of the kits from my good friend Yang Ge, you’ll get your very own, authentic red scarf mailed to you all the way from China!

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I affectionately call these bundled up children ragamuffins. Their clothes, aprons, and sleeve covers appear in a variety of patterns and colors. To have clean and warm clothes is enough. Matching colors is not necessary. Aren’t they all adorable?

The weather has already turned toward spring, and kids are not quite as layered as before. The day I took these pictures (about a month ago) was especially cold.

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Today’s theme — Aggressive parents and terrified children.

People just love to look at the “foreign doll” — Sprite. And total strangers often want to take photos with her.  I managed to catch this occurrence to share with you. Sprite, of course, is not too thrilled. But she’s managing a polite, albeit fake, smile. The poor little girl is absolutely terrified. Her mother kept urging her to “put your arm around the big sister.” You can see from her face that she didn’t want to be close to Sprite much less touch her. But she was obedient to her mother’s wishes and posed for the photo.

The only person genuinely smiling is the photo-crazed mother. She is totally oblivious to the children’s emotions. She simply wants the picture of the foreign doll no matter the cost.

Another variation of this theme is the following dialogue:

aggressive parent:  Look,  there’s a foreign big sister. Why don’t you go talk to her?
terrified child: No.
aggressive parent: Go on! Practice your English!
terrified child: No.
aggressive parent: Listen. They’re speaking English. Is it English? Can you understand what they’re saying? Tell me what they’re saying.  (Child still cowers in fear.)
aggressive parent: (trying the shame tactic, often with a light smack) Wow! You’re so bad! I send you to English lessons and you can’t even say hello to the pretty foreign sister? It’s not hard. Just go up and say “What’s your name?”
terrified child: (Pulling away, hiding face)

The interesting thing is that rarely do the aggressive parents themselves approach us to speak English. They almost always try to push a small child to do something they themselves are not willing to do. On occasions, I’ve tried to educate the parents by suggesting that they serve as a role model and initiate the conversation rather than badgering the child to do something scary.

But considering a child’s feelings and psychological well-being is really not a common concept (except among the well educated upper class). We keep trying to educate and patiently endure the cultural differences. Sprite and I laughed a lot about the poor girl’s fake smile. We hope she wasn’t permanently damaged by the terrifying experience!

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all for the children

This is common slogan– all for the children — here painted on a  kindergarten wall (what Americans would call pre-school).

Playing simple games with rope.

This child's dirty face made me laugh.

Digging in the dirt.

Doing homework in the late afternoon on a makeshift desk.

studious concentration

hard work

asleep on the bus

This picture shows how hard life is for young Chinese students. This is the after work and after school traffic. See how the mom holds her son’s head up? He’s totally exhausted from staying up late at night doing homework and getting up early for classes. The mom accepts it as part of life. This is how her son must work to get ahead, to go to a good college, and to gain a good paying job to support his parents when they retire at the early age of 55.

When Chinese people ask me why we homeschool, it’s actually not hard to show them the benefits. They all realize the difficulties of their current educational system.

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This young man was at the foot of a pedestrian overpass (the way we cross very busy streets safely). He was selling sparklers. I thought him quite a clever businessman to be wearing the cute Santa hat and attract attention.

This kid is a bei dou (day laborer).  Yes!  This young!  He has taken off his basket and was following me around the market.  He has followed me a few times.  At first I thought he was trailing me to pick my pockets. 

But then I came to the realization that he is simply curious about me and has the nerve (that his friends do not have) to follow me around and stare.  You can see the boy in the back taking off when he saw my camera!

And here is another young man.  He was waiting outside a supermarket, hoping to carry someone’s purchases.

This boy is selling balloons at a park.  His sister and mother were nearby also selling balloons.

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Another cutie whose mother was willing for me to take pictures. 

This is my favorite one.  This is a girl.  She is wearing sleeve protectors on her arms to guard that cute red, quilted outfit.  Many people wash their clothes by hand because they have no washing machine. So they go to great lengths to keep clothes clean.

And finally, a close up of that suspicious, pouty face. She never smiled, not once, the whole time.

But I still think she’s adorable!

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This little girl was playing on the grass, and her mother was willing to let me photograph her.  She whisked away the backpack basket, thinking that it was ugly. But I asked her to put it back.  I felt that it gave the photo greater interest. What do you think?

It was a cool but sunny day.  You can see how bundled up she is! 
When I let Sprite  wear one layer (goodness forbid short sleeves!),  I am severely criticized or told how healthy that my child is to be able to wear so little.  Funny.  We consider it a matter of comfort, not health. But getting ill in China is a serious affair, and one that parents try to avoid at all costs.  Bundling your child up is also a sign of great love.  So I look like a bad parent when I let my sweaty DD run and play without a sweater and coat.    That’s okay.  I can be the “crazy foreigner.”  If they ask, I just tell them that she is healthy.  We’ve been in China for over four years, and DD has gotten a cold only once!

What a sweet face!

From the back you can get an idea of the clothing.  There is an apron-type piece worn over the whole outfit something like we might use a bib — too keep the clothes clean.  And you can see the open crotch pants.  Since it’s cold, this child is bundled up with several layers, and no bare bottom is hanging out! 

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with grandpa

playing on a sculpture

dressed up

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A grandpa with his granddaughter

A child in front of the pork stall at the market.

Yes, those are pig feet behind his (her?) head.  I know that you’re thinking, “Jimmie, that MUST be a girl; she’s wearing PINK, for goodness sake.”  But those rules about boy and girl colors don’t apply here.   Sprite was surprised one day this week when her good friend who is a 5 year old boy was willing to use her bright pink backpack!  She felt that a boy just shouldn’t wear a pink backpack.  But people here just don’t really worry about the whole pink issue.  [And with the open crotch pants worn by babies/toddlers (no diapers), you generally can SEE the gender! ]

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