Children Pictures: Boys And Girls In China And Vietnam. Children At Home And School.

Many country towns and villages in China and Vietnam seldom get foreign visitors. The children pictures above and below illustrate the reaction of the children when such a visitor arrives. The children pictures shown on this page are from visits to Chinese and Vietnamese families of friends. The first of the children pictures, from Pai Lou in Hunan Province, China, was taken within about fifteen minutes of arrival. There was much chatter amongst the children discussing the "alien" in their midst.

It is said that if children are happy then people are happy, and if people are happy then children are happy. The children we met in Pai Lou were certainly happy children, and surely more used to smiling and laughing, than being sad and afraid. One of the youngsters gathered by the door in the photograph, showed me a satchel he had been given on his birthday, ready for the time he would start school later in the year; he was eager to start at the time, but three year later, he was eager to leave. Wherever we went in Pai Lou some of the children would follow us. When we sat at table for our lunch in a street restaurant with the front open to the street, children gathered on the pavement to watch and chatter, until the restaurant owner moved them away. When we had finished our lunch and were back walking on the street, we drew children like a magnet.

"Grandpa", in the children pictures, is the honorary title given to any person who is much older than the children themselves. The picture of the children gathered by the open street door in Langson was taken during supper. Two days earlier, each of these children had given "Grandpa" a single red rose at a banquet, so they were not inquisitive, just friendly and obviously happy. We were in Langson for a few days so eventually we were able to put names to the faces of some of the children we met, during the times they were not in school.

We did visit one of the schools in Langson, during the lunch break, but some of the children had returned early to the school yard, and at first the children were surprised by our visit, but they soon became part of our 'group' during the time we stayed in the school yard to take some photographs. The children were as happy as cuckoos when photos were taken of them, but unfortunately they did not have the opportunity of seeing the result.