For three hours, two boys clung to the bottom of a bus as they attempted to reach a city in southern china from their rural hometown, just to see their parents.

According to Nanguo Zaobao, the boys, around 8 years old, had snuck out of school before classes started in Nazuo, a village populated by Miao minorities in Guangxi province, and hid in a narrow space under the bus bound for Baise, a city in western Guangxi.

They were reported missing on Nov. 23 by their teacher, and found on the same day at a bus station when safety staff carried out their routine checks of the buses.

Pictures and a video show the two boys caked with mud and curled up into the tiny spaces while clinging to the bottom of the bus.

The staff were surprised to find the boys hiding under the bus, and were relieved when they saw that the boys were unharmed.

The authorities contacted their school, and a teacher bought them back from the bus station to their school, where they reside as well.

Missed their parents badly

While the boys were timid and refused to talk initially when questioned, the staff eventually learned that they missed their parents, and had hidden under the bus in a bid to find their parents in Baise.

The boys' parents were actually working in Guangdong province, but in order to comfort them, their relatives had lied to them that their parents are at Baise.

"Heartbreaking"

The incident has shocked China's online community, and has been a talking point for many on popular microblog Weibo. Many users described the incident as "heartbreaking".

Translation: So heartbreaking. Sobs.

The incident has even led some netizens to mock the idea of the "China Dream", with some sarcastically saying that everything is going to get better in the year 2020 as it's the year that China will become a "moderately prosperous society", according to President Xi Jinping.

Translation: China Dream.

Translation: Children, just wait for 2 more years. Our nation is going to become "moderately prosperous" in the year 2020. There'll be no lack of food nor clothes then, and every family is going to be happy.

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Migrant parents and "left behind" children

"Left behind children" is a common phenomenon in rural China.

According to a government survey in internal migration, there are 61 million "left behind" children living without day-to-day care from their parents.

These migrant worker parents have sought work in larger Chinese cities, where the labour of such migrant workers are needed.

However, big cities like Beijing often deny the children of these migrant workers essential services such as schooling and health care.

Coupled with the low incomes and poor housing conditions of the migrant workers, it's all but impossible for children to accompany their parents to the cities.

Also, a survey of approximately 14,868 rural kids in 17 different provinces done by Beijing-based non-governmental organization (NGO) On the Road to School revealed that out of these rural children, more than half see their migrant worker parents less than twice a year.

Massive social problem

China's "left behind" children is a massive social problem that has produced a number of tragedies that have shocked the nation.

In June 2015, 4 "left behind" children from the same family, ranging from ages 5 to 13, committed suicide together by swallowing pesticide in Bijie, Guizhou province.

Earlier in November 2012, 5 boys died from carbon monoxide poisoning after starting a charcoal fire trying to stay warm inside a dumpster.

Realising the extent of the problem, the central government issued a guideline in February last year to local authorities to improve the physical and psychological health of such children. However, the proposal was criticised as being too little, too late.

The separation of children from their parents due to both policy and economic reasons, is one of the unintended consequences of China's urbanisation in the past decades.

Top image via Nanguo Zaobao.

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