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Poor Chinese Schoolgirl Sings Patriotic Song When Hungry

A young Chinese schoolgirl from an impoverished area of Hunan province is interviewed on television saying she sings a patriotic song "Motherland, motherland, we love you" whenever she's hungry because she doesn't have lunch to eat.

A young Chinese schoolgirl from an impoverished area of Hunan province is interviewed on television saying she sings a patriotic song "Motherland, motherland, we love you" whenever she's hungry because she doesn't have lunch to eat.

The following microblog post on China’s popular Sina Weibo microblogging platform has over 5000 comments and 40k reshares, helping it reach the top of the trending charts…

On Sina Weibo:

@乐活长沙: Hunan Huaihua City girl doesn’t have money to eat lunch: When her stomach is hungry, she sings “Motherland, motherland, we love you” – Hunan public television broadcasted a program: In Hunan province of China, Huaihua city, Xinhuang County Tianjia Elementary School. Reporter: Not eating during lunch, are you hungry? Little girl: “Hungry.” Reporter: Then what do you do? Little girl: “Sing.” Reporter: Sing what song? Little girl: “Motherland, motherland, we love you”. [泪][泪]

The above video is of a news segment about Tianjia Elementary School being the 4th school to enjoy free lunches for its schoolchildren as part of the “Hunan Free Lunch Project”.

During their report, a little 3-year-old girl is discovered standing outside the classroom, “her eyes blinking as she watched the children inside the classroom having class.” The reporter asks the girl how old she is and then asks the teacher coming out of the classroom why the little girl has been standing outside. The teacher says her family is poor and has been standing outside the class for a year now. The reporter continues to explain that she can only go to school everyday with her older brother who is in the second grade and watch the other children have class from outside.

A little 3-year-old Chinese girl who stands outside her brother's classroom every day because her family can't afford to send her to school.

The little girl’s paternal grandfather is shown next. He says she really wants to go to school and every time she gets home, she’ll take her brother’s books and practice with them. He says only he, at 76 years old, is left to take care of them. The reporter then reveals that a kind-hearted person unwilling to reveal their name has sponsored the little girl, allowing her to “put on her backpack and go to school beginning tomorrow”. This leads into the main subject of the report which is that in impoverished mountain areas, even those children who can afford to go to school often have difficulties when it comes to lunch.

School Principal Yang says the school has 71 children and over 60 of them are “left-behind children”, children whose parents have left the hometown to go find work elsewhere in the country and whom their grandparents or extended family take care of. Two of the three villages are rather far from the school, about 7-8 kilometers away. Some of the children bring their lunches while others simply don’t eat.

Here, the video reaches the subject of the trending microblog post. The reporter asks a young girl if her family packs a lunch for her and she says “no”. The reporter asks if she’s hungry and she says “yes”. The reporter asks what does she do then? She says she sings “Motherland, motherland, we love you” and is then shown singing part of the song.

The report continues to say that the school has now been selected to be the 4th school in Hunan to have free lunches so lunches are no longer a problem for the kids. A woman representing a Beijing company says this is a continuous public welfare project. Each child gets 3 kuai that ensures they get 2 dishes, soup, a chicken egg, and rice. Children are seen enjoying their lunches. The school principal thanks the project organizers and supporters. One of the project’s organizers explains that a school of an impoverished area need only apply with them and as long as their documentation is in order, they can quickly move forward. He says the next school will be Xiangxi Taizhou.

Comments on Sina Weibo:

券天下网:

I went there last year during an activity for [Chinese Communist] Party members, [and we] donated several tens of thousands in money. The children there truly need help.

风在发duan:

How come it feels fake as hell, as if the reporter fabricated it!

潘继尧:

Singing about another country?

里見SATOMI:

Great motherland, great Party, do you hear that? Your children are hungry!

V微V不足道:

[泪][泪][泪][泪][泪][怒]

爱澄澄爱妈妈:

Motherland, may the motherland please also love your children.

怒小小宇:

Worth all of society and the country reflecting on.

_李小莎:

They love the motherland, but the motherland they love can’t even give them enough to eat…

一对马眼观世:

Such adorable children! Such pitiful children! Such… motherland! When you grow up, you’ll understand.

姜片奶糖:

Poster, I’ve discovered that this song is really effective, I immediately became full, so full I wanted to vomit.

浮呀:

You love your homeland, but your homeland doesn’t love you!

曲碗停Wondering:

My god…

头头姐微博:

Are there any specific details on how to donate money, even though I don’t have much.

西瓜王子面:

Loving your country is the most wishful of unrequited love. [嘘]

吃烧麦不剥皮:

Couldn’t sleep so looking at this piece of news yet again, wondering if that reporter also cried. I want to say to the child, be good now, don’t sing this song anymore in the future, there will be more and more uncles and aunties who will come care for you all, now cover your years, uncle wants to say something, “People’s Republic of China, you mother’s cunt!”

业月缘:

Sigh…

云教育布道者:

Fuck, motherland, motherland, how do you expect me to love you? [泪]

三疯大师:

Don’t know whether to cry or laugh.

多贝陈广涛:

If me resharing this once, can make you shed tears, and if you resharing this once, can let this child get one meal… will you silently roll past this microblog post?

owngoal:

Just resharing this alone won’t allow this little girl to get enough to eat [referring to a lot of comments echoing the above comment].

少年毛血旺:

Able to eat just from resharing!!! Are you dreaming or am I dreaming!

或许可以被你征服:

Grass mud horse motherland.

千杯万盏:

Love what?

东东89757:

Alright then, singing this song can save money on meals -_-

如果-对不起:

The country is busy holding meetings, let’s talk about this later.

Jason-于勇:

Motherland mother, don’t just love your children who have money, or only help your neighbor’s children, while forgetting your children who can’t even eat.

遇见蝴蝶结:

Only resharing because I think it’s really ironic.

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Written by Fauna

Fauna is a mysterious young Shanghainese girl who lives in the only place a Shanghainese person would ever want to live: Shanghai. In mid-2008, she started chinaSMACK to combine her hobby of browsing Chinese internet forums with her goal of improving her English. Through her tireless translation of popular Chinese internet news and phenomenon, her English has apparently gotten dramatically better. At least, reading and writing-wise. Unfortunately, she's still not confident enough to have written this bio, about herself, by herself.

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