Tang Xiaobing hasn't seen her 14-year-old son since March when she left him in the United States and traveled back to China alone. Now, the 45-year-old Beijing resident faces the prospect of another eight months of separation－and all because she tried to do the right thing.
When her son began studying at a high school in the state of Connecticut in June 2013, Tang became one of a growing number of Chinese parents who move abroad and take up residence close to their offspring. Despite speaking little English and fully aware that she would see little of her son, and would even have to e-mail the school to arrange meetings with him, Tang traveled to the US in March 2013 to find a place to live.
When the boy started at the new school, she went with him. "I couldn't let my son go by himself because he had never been apart from me during the past 14 years. Even though we wouldn't see each other often, I hoped that he would feel, 'Ah, Mom isn't far away' whenever he thought about me," she said.
Now, though, she won't be able to visit the US again for at least a year because of visa issues, and the pain of separation grows stronger every day.
Tang's story is all too familiar to Li Peng, deputy general manager of Kentrexs Education Group, which arranges for young Chinese to study in the US. Li said that as an increasing number of students from well-to-do families head overseas at a young age to study, a growing army of parents, mostly mothers, are accompanying them.
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Tang Xiaobing hasn't seen her 14-year-old son since March when she left him in the United States and traveled back to China alone. Now, the 45-year-old Beijing resident faces the prospect of another eight months of separation
