Ministries campaign to save street children (2)

The ministry also announced on Saturday that each June 19 will be an "Open Day" at all Chinese rescue centers for homeless people, to help the public to supervise rescue institutions' work.

There are 261 rescue centers for minors across China and they helped about 1.36 million street children from 2003 to 2012, according to the ministry.

Zhang Li - not his real name - a hairdresser with a decent income in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province, was rescued as a child from a life on the streets.

At age 11, Zhang was abandoned by his divorced father at a train station, and he had to live on the street.

The 19-year-old said his life got back on track after workers in a mobile rescue van met him on the street and persuaded him to go to the Zhengzhou Street Children Protection Center in 2008. Zhang received some informal education at the center and he later went to live with a foster family. The center sponsored him to study haircutting at a vocational school and helped him to land a job in a salon two years ago.