Children take a vacation with a twist

A way out

This summer, 18 children are staying in Wu's factory. Eight of them are little migratory birds from remote towns, while the other 10 are "lucky dogs," who live with their migrant parents in the city.

Congcong, 4, has spent most of his life in the workshop where his parents work all day long, and in his "home", a 6-square-meter room containing a bunk bed and a small table.

When he turned 3, Congcong's parents decided to send him to a nearby kindergarten. It costs the young couple 4,500 yuan ($628) per semester, which is a sizable sum, given that the average monthly salary for workers in the factory is about 7,000 yuan.

Huang Hailong, Congcong's father, has been working in the factory since 2007. He met his wife there.

Initially, they left the boy in Huang's hometown of Suining, a city in the southwestern province of Sichuan, but later they came to realize they had issues with the parent-child relationship.

"For a while, he didn't want to speak with me, because we didn't see each other very often," Huang said. "That is why we have lived with Congcong ever since."

There are 6.97 million "left-behind" children in China - youngsters left in rural homes while their parents work far away - while more than 14 million children live with their migrant worker parents in cities in prosperous regions.

To provide better on-site child care, many young workers choose to live with their children while moving around the country.

Their children's education carries the most weight for younger parents - they expect their offspring to go to college and work in an office rather than toil in a factory.

However, the factory experience has made the children more self-reliant and capable than many of their peers.

In addition to giving their parents a hand, the older children turn the workshop into a library, reading books amid the humming sewing machines and electric fans whirring above their heads.

Ou Qiuquan, 19, the "oldest young person" in the factory, is considered a role model by the frolicking children.

Despite lengthy family discussions about his possible future in the crowded workshop, he was accepted by Fujian Medical University this summer.

He has spent almost every summer with his parents in the factory, where they have worked since it opened in 2005. In more recent years, he has been joined by his sister and his brother.

Ou Tingfang, his younger sister, was reading Red Star Over China by Edgar Snow for summer break school assignment.

"I need to work harder than ever before," the 14-year-old said. "I don't want to let my family down."