In China , parents are sending their city-raised children to gruelling countryside camps to experience manual farm labour.
At these “hardship summer camps,” campers spend up to a month doing demanding tasks such as feeding pigs, gathering firewood, cleaning dung, and even cooking by themselves.
The kids’ phones are confiscated before they enter the camp, reported South China Morning Post in a report published in August. In the camp, the kids are expected to mirror farmers’ daily tasks, which include digging for food, cleaning and feeding animals, and cooking. The children have to follow strict rules and are even punished if they fail to complete their daily tasks. Several videos have surfaced on social media showing children crying and pleading with their parents to take them home. “They’ll say, ‘What? We’re staying here? I want to go home.’
The camp organisers, however, claim that the tasks given to the kids are not “too hard”. Liu Baoshun, a study tour instructor, told the outlet that, initially, most kids react with shock and surprise upon arriving at the camp, where they are usually required to share a room with five or seven other kids.
