This is the time when people to return home for Spring Festival family reunions. But despite being busy preparing for that all-important annual event, we should not forget the many challenges facing children in our society.

The shocking news about several dozen children, aged between 9 and 16 years, from poor families in Liangshan, Sichuan province, having "volunteered" to work as cheap laborers has once again raised the problem of child labor.

It was heart wrenching to hear a young girl plead: "I don't want to go home, I can eat meat and rice here (in the factory). I don't want to go back to eating potatoes and corn every day." This girl's plea came after she was rescued from a factory in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, where she had been illegally employed as a child laborer. Further reports this weekend said another 35 teenagers questioned why they were forced back home by local police, rather than allowed to improve their lives through working.