A 12-year-old left-behind girl set fire to her neighbor's house thinking it would cause her mother to return, Chengdu Commercial Daily reported.

Xiao Lin (not her real name), from Guang'an, Sichuan province, badly missed her mother as the woman had only returned to see her daughter once in the past 10 years.

On March 6, Xiao Lin set fire to her neighbor's house thinking that her mother would have to return to discuss compensation and she would see her mother again.

Both the girl's parents work as migrant workers in another province and do not return even for Spring Festival, the most important holiday for the Chinese. For the past 12 years, Xiao Lin has lived with her grandmother.

Experts say left-behind children in rural areas have become a serious social problem and their parents should pay more attention to their children by making regular phone calls and returning home to see them.