roulettecashgame|Across China: Cozy harbor gives left-behind children safer, happier vacation

GUIYANGroulettecashgame, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- After breakfastroulettecashgame, Tang Shixu leaves his home for a village center where he can enjoy chess, modeling clay and other toys and cultural and sports articles.

Tang, 10, lives in a village in Gangdu Township in Huishui County in the landlocked Guizhou Province, a major source of migrant workers in China. Since his mother works in the coastal province of Zhejiang and his father does odd jobs nearby, he was often left alone at home scrolling through short videos on his smartphone or wandering around with other left-behind children during previous summer vacations.

This year, however, he has a new place to turn to. With the support of some organizations and kind-hearted individuals, the village has purchased books, toys and calligraphy stationeries to set up a center taking care of children like Tang. The village has also upgraded the village's basketball court, adding children's basketball hoops to attract kids to play there.

"It's fun here with lots of toys and many friends to meet," Tang said.

Functioning like a school children's care center, the place was named "26°C Cozy Harbor" as 26 degrees Celsius is a comfortable temperature for humans, said township cadre Liu Zhengxin. "We hope the cozy harbor will convey warmth to more people," she said.

Liu, who was stationed at the village for many years, said the village is home to more than 1,700 residents from 360 households, with most income generated from labor migration.

"The harbor aims to avoid children being left unattended after school and during vacations," she said.

The harbor houses around 20 children daily, and sometimes the number reaches 40 when there are free lectures, Liu said, adding that some villagers would like to send their children there when they have errands away from home. The harbor workers also film the children's daily activities and share the videos in a WeChat group, keeping their working parents informed.

In another harbor in a residential community in Lushan Township, 10 volunteers from Tianjin-based Tiangong University helped children with their homework or guided them in practicing handwriting.

Chen Yun, a Party official of the township, said they invite local learned seniors and volunteers to give free lectures every Tuesday and Thursday.

Chen believes that the harbor not only enriches the holiday experience of rural children and reduces their screen time but also addresses safety concerns as fewer children are playing by the rivers, effectively avoiding drowning cases.

Incomplete statistics from the National Health Commission and the Ministry of Public Security showed that about 57,000 people die from drowning every year in China, and the number of drowning deaths of children accounts for 56 percent of the total. Drowning has become the "first killer" of abnormal deaths among primary and high school students.

This year, Huishui County began to promote this "26°C Cozy Harbor" initiative across rural areas, with 24 such facilities established. More than 1,000 interest orientation, tutoring, rights protection and psychological counseling activities have been organized at the harbors, bringing benefits to thousands of children, according to the county authorities.■