Many children in China are suffering from various emotional and mental health problems brought about by the Chinese diaspora to big urban cities and provinces where jobs are available.

Leaving their children to the care of their ageing grandparents, these Chinese migrants leave their rural homes and try their luck in finding a job in big cities and provinces in order to feed their families.

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Called "left behind" children, these tots and teenagers who were left behind by their parents only get to see them once a year or even much later.

Six year old Liu Yuming, whose mother abandoned her, lives with her 72 year old grandmother and gets to see his father only once a year. His father works as a carpenter in a distant province.

Yuming is just one of the 61 million children who has been left behind or abandoned by their parents in 2013.

China's Health Department said many of these children are suffering from poor performance in school, mental, and behavioral problems.

The All-China Women's Federation (CWF) has reported that the number of "left-behind" children in rural areas was at 61.026 million in 2013, accounting for 37.7% of rural children and 21.9% of all children nationwide.

Reports said Yuming's grandmother is too old to take care of a child, a predicament which is shared by many other grandparents who have no choice but to take the children into their care as their sons and daughters have to work in the big cities.

One in five Chinese children reportedly grows up without parents or only with a single parent.

Migration of Chinese workers into big urban cities have been rampant in rural areas as the head of the family has to find their source of livelihood.

Reports said the situation has improved in the past years as the Chinese migrant workers have taken their children with them in migrating to China's cities.

The CWF said the lack of parental support and supervision of these 'left behind' children poses a risk to their well-being and makes them vulnerable to physical and emotional abuse  like rape and torture.

Tagsmental health, Diaspora, Chinese workers, 'left behind children'