China photographer - M. Scott Brauer - Photojournalism, Documentary Photography

Sun Lu Lu, 11, was orphaned in 1999, and was left to live with her grandmother Li Ru Chun in Wang Dong Village, Jiangsu Province, China. The girl's father died from disease in 1998. The girl's mother had been purchased for a dowry from a family in the western provinces of China and was forced to remarry in 1999, abandoning the girl. The girl rarely speaks to her grandmother, who is in poor health and cannot provide financial, material, or emotional support for the girl.

Wang Bao Ying stands in her home in Fanzhuang Village, Gangyun County, Jiangsu, China, crying as she describes her grandson's life. Wang Bao Ying is the grandmother of the orphaned boy Fan Lu Yang, 10, whom she cares for with husband Fan Qing Huai. The grandparents are both over 75 and often ill, and the income from growing corn, wheat, and hay, cannot support the three. Fan Lu Yang's father died in 2000 in an accident at a small coal mine and his mother developed dementia and disappeared about a year before this picture was taken.

Fan Jian Bo, 11, was orphaned in 1998, and now lives with his aunt and uncle in Fanzhuang Village, Jiangsu Province, China. The boy's father died of cancer in 1998, and soon after his mother committed suicide by drinking pesticide. The boy's uncle has a cerebral embolism and the meager income the family earns from growing cabbages and melons cannot support Fan Jian Bo's continued education.

Yang Zhou was orphaned in 2003 and now lives with his grandparents in rural Hu He Village, Jiangsu Province, China. The boy's father died of asthma complications in 2002, and his mother remarried in 2003, abandoning him. Yang Zhou's grandparents are both over 70 and cannot support him; his grandmother has a gastric illness, and his grandfather has a cerebral embolism and the meager income they earn from farming does not support the family.

Li Chang, 11, was orphaned in 2006 after her father died of uremia. Her mother died in 1997 from a cerebral hemorrhage. The girl now lives with her grandparents in Longju Village, Jiangsu Province, China, and they cannot financially support her continued schooling.

Zhao Min, 9, stands near her and her brother's backpacks and certificates for good work in school in her family's house in Qingdun Village, Gangyun County, Jiangsu, China. Zhao Min has lived with her brother Zhao Shi, 6, and grandparents Sun Zhan Xia and Zhao Xia You since 2007 when the children were orphaned. The children's father, Sun Zhan Xia's son, died of hepatitis in 2006 and their mother was forced to remarry and abandon the children in 2007. Sun Zhan Xia and her husband are both over 60 and in bad health. The couple owes approximately 40,000 RMB (about $5,300 USD) to pay for the medical treatment of their dead son, the children's father. Due to their health situation and this enormous debt, the pair cannot afford to care for the children any longer, and the children are in danger of being placed in orphanages.

Fan Xi Bao stands inside his home in Fanzhuang Village, Gangyun County, Jiangsu, China, where he and wife Wang Shou Ha care for their orphaned granddaughter Fan Li Na, 10. The girl's father died in a car crash in 2000 and the girl's mother remarried, abandoning the girl. Both grandparents are over 60 and have health problems which make it impossible to support the girl if she continues school.

Fan Wen Jie, 11, was orphaned in 2006 and now lives with his grandparents on a half hectare of land in rural Fanzhuan Village, Jiangsu Province, China. The boy's father died in a car crash in 2005, and his mother remarried in 2006, abandoning the boy, though she still periodically sends money to help the family. The boy's grandparents are frequently ill, and the meager income from farming cannot support his education.

Yan Jing Ya, 9, was orphaned and now lives with his grandparents in rural Yi Ling Village, Jiangsu Province, China. The boy's father died in a coal mining accident; his mother, who had been purchased for a dowry for marriage from the remote Yunnan Province, remarried after the death and abandoned the child. Yan Jing Ya's grandparents can not afford to care for the boy.

Huo Yang Xia cries as she describes the life of her orphaned grandson Fan Wen Jie, 11, who lives with her in Fanzhuan Village, Jiangsu Province, China. The boy's father died in a car crash in 2005, and his mother remarried in 2006, abandoning the boy, though she still periodically sends money to help the family.

Young and Abandoned

The situation is familiar throughout China. The children have been abandoned, and their caretakers, grandparents, aunts and uncles, neighbors, cannot support them financially or emotionally. In some cases, family tragedy took the lives of both parents, in others, Chinese social customs created a situation in which a mother had to leave the child for a new husband and a new life.

The conditions inside China’s orphanages are often inhumane and appalling. As a result, international and domestic charities, such as China’s Amity Foundation, work to keep abandoned children out of the orphanage system, preferring instead to provide the financial assistance to make it possible for orphans to live with their relatives or other guardians in their home villages. As they age, it becomes more difficult to support the children; the costs of school, clothing, and food overreach the meager income from work on a collective farm. Although charities have not yet begun supporting the children in these pictures, their need has been recorded and, if money can be raised, the process of assistance will begin. Though only two hundred dollars a year per child is enough to keep them out of China’s orphanages, the road ahead remains a difficult one.

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