Children of convicts and executed criminals in the Morning Tears center in Henan's provincial capital Zhengzhou have a good time playing games on June 1, Children's Day. Photos by Erik Nilsson / China Daily

A small person's big identity question

However, the healing of psyches not only takes time but also requires a starting point.

A fraction of China's children of convicts - about 300 - are afforded such institutionalized care. About 300,000 of the 600,000 children of convicts had no caretaker in 2011, the Ministry of Justice reports.

In about half such cases, relatives were reluctant to take custody of the children because of stigma.

The ministry says that many of these children that year joined China's 100,000 "street kids", most of whom survive by begging and stealing.