It was about six o'clock in the evening.
Under the swaying shadows of tree branches and vines and before a two-storey European-styled house, two little girls were sitting on stools at a table made of stone. They held pencils in their hands, and their textbooks and notebooks were spread on the table.
From time to time the younger one asked questions. And the elder answered patiently.
The sound of sizzling food came from somewhere inside the house, each time followed by a wave of spicy smells that made the two stop writing, trying to inhale the delicious scent.
On the right side of the house there is another similarly styled home. A young adolescent boy was solemnly practising kung fu while several younger children watched.
Between the two houses, there is a path, along which more similar houses stand.
It leads to a playground, where a group of boys were playing soccer. They frequently let out bursts of laughter when someone scored a goal or fell down.
Such was the life of children in the SOS Children's Village in north China's Tianjin Municipality in the evening of June 16.
If you are told all the children in the village are orphans, you may think it is pitiful.
But for them, the village offers everything they need.
"Anything lacking here? No. I love being here," said Zhang Xiuping, a 14-year-old girl who is going to enter junior middle school in September when the new school year begins.
Zhang is a member of the 20th family in the village. There are all together 17 families in the village with about 150 children.
She said some of her classmates, at the nearby Dongjuzi Primary School, even envy her life.
"Once I showed them around the village. They said they would like to be a child here because there are so many brothers and sisters," she said.
Zhang Jinzhi, 13, said life in the village is very colorful.
"In our spare time, the village often organizes us for trips around the city. We have been to most of the places of interest here," said the boy.
His brother Hao Runjie, 14, likes the art lessons taught by teachers who are invited by the village to the site every weekend. Both live in the 17th family.
Hao has been learning erhu (a kind of two-stringed Chinese musical instrument) for seven years.
"My mum (in the village) bought me my first erhu. She thought it would be good for me to learn erhu because my eyesight is not good," he said, referring to the fact that the famous Chinese erhu artist Hua Yuanjun was a blind man.
"I wish to enter the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing in the future," said the boy.
But Zhang Jinzhi said he hopes to become a big chef, just like an elder brother who used to be in his family and is now an excellent chef working for a hotel in the city.
Both Zhang Jinzhi and Hao said they do not mind being asked about their parents, who passed away when they were still babies.
"In fact, I have few memories about my parents," Hao said.
Cao Jian'e, 49, became an "SOS mother" in 1987. She used to be a healthcare worker in a local company.
"At that time, I thought I would rather be single all along since I did not meet a suitable person (to marry)," she said, referring to the rule of SOS children's villages that "mothers" must be single and have no children of their own.
She said it is easy to be a "mother," but it is very hard to be a good one.
"There are so many of them (the children)... You just need to take care of each," she said. She now has seven to look after, including Zhang Jinzhi and Hao.
She added: "If you do the job (raising children till they grow up), then you can relax after they become adults. But here there is no end because there are children coming in continuously as the elder ones leave."
But Cao does think the relation between her children and her is very precious.
"This relationship grows so deep in my heart that it will never fade away."
Anticipating her life after retiring, Cao said she would like to rent a car and have on-going relationships with her grown-up children.
"By then, I hope to have a thorough rest and enjoy being with them," she said.
(China Daily June 23, 2005)
