Liang Niuniu, a 12-year-old-girl, lives with her grandparents and two sisters in a village in east China's Ruijin city. With her parents working in a city, she has been raised by her grandparents.

"We raised our grandchildren with love and care," said Niuniu's grandfather. "Since my family is poor, I need my granddaughters to help me," said Niuniu's grandmother, who wakes up every morning at 3.00 am to work on a farm. Despite poverty and a task to raise her grandchildren, she is grateful to her daughter-in-law.

Liang Renzhong, an 81-year-old retired headmaster of a school in the village, has started a choir for stay-at-home children like Niuniu. Children are taught clapper talk and perform stage play, and it also enlightens them with the spirit of the Long March - a military retreat by the Red Army of the Communist Party of China in 1934-35.

Niuniu's friend in the choir said, "ever since I was a kid, I've lived on my own. I really want to be a soldier to be my country's pride."

CGTN meets Liang Niuniu and her family, as well as other left-behind children in the village, to explore their emotions through their daily lives.