Tearfully, Zhang Yu waves goodbye to her 5-year-old daughter Fan Jingqi who is on her way back home at Taiyuan Railway Station.

Zhang sells medicine and health care devices in Taiyuan, north China's Shanxi province and takes care of her daughter alone. Jingqi is fond of playing piano. As Zhang is busy doing her daily work and cannot spare time to accompany her daughter during vacation, Zhang sent Jingqi to a piano training school.

On Feb. 2, 2016, the last lesson in the school ended and Zhang had to send her daughter to her hometown, Lingshi county, 150 kilometers away from Taiyuan.

Zhang cannot enjoy family reunion time in her hometown because she has to work extra hours during the Spring Festival.

"It does not matter that I cannot stay with my family. I think everything will be better," Zhang said. What she hopes is to earn more and gives her daughter a better life.

Buying an apartment is Zhang's New Year wish. "My daughter has been longing for a home of her own.”