Chinese "blue helmets" carry out duties on Spring Festival amid homesickness ...

While the Chinese across the world are celebrating their Lunar New Year with family reunions, the country's peacekeepers are carrying out UN missions in places far away from home.

Ma Yuanlong, a Chinese peacekeeper in South Sudan, is from Qihe, a county in China's northern province of Shandong. He has a two-month-old son, whom he has only seen for two days since his birth.

For the 29-year old soldier and his comrades, homesickness is something inevitable, especially at this time of the year when the most important festival for Chinese families, known as the Spring Festival, is celebrated.

As a member of China's third peacekeeping infantry battalion to South Sudan, he was sent to the eastern African country in December, right after his wife gave birth.

"I feel sorry for my wife because I was away when she needed me most," said Ma. "I have promised her that I will be with her and our son at next Chinese new year."

Ma's team is tasked with various missions, ranging from protecting civilians, UN staff and humanitarian workers, to logistics, conducting patrols and providing security escorts.

In July 2016, two Chinese peacekeepers died and five others were wounded after their vehicle was struck by a shell when it was guarding a refugee camp near the UN compound in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

"For my son, I am sure that he will understand how honorable my job is when he grows up," Ma said.

Zhang Qin, another Chinese peacekeeper in South Sudan, told Xinhua that she has not been able to celebrate the Spring Festival together with her family since she joined the army two years ago.

"I want my parents know that I've taken good care of myself. I do good work here, and I love them and miss them very much," the 22-year old from China's southwestern province of Sichuan said.

According to official figures released in late 2016, China has 2,496 deployed peacekeepers worldwide and most of them are in Africa, across six missions in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Lebanon, Sudan, Mali and South Sudan.

From excavating unexploded mines to foot patrol in volatile areas, peacekeepers often have to endure harrowing moments.

China has participated in 24 UN peacekeeping operations and deployed a total number of 33,000 military peacekeepers since 1990, says the Ministry of National Defense

China, already the top contributor of peacekeeping forces among the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, is preparing to make even bigger contributions to UN peacekeeping missions.

As Chinese President Xi Jinping announced at the UN headquarters in 2015, China will set up a permanent peacekeeping police squad and build a peacekeeping standby force of 8,000 troops.

While in Liberia, another war-torn African nation, Chinese peacekeeper Chen Lin often thinks about his grandmother who is hospitalized in his hometown.

"My grandma loves me most and I really wish that I could be with her," said Chen, a Chinese riot policeman who was on a UN peacekeeping mission in Monrovia to help maintain order and security in Liberia.

But Chen says his grandmother understands his absence as serving the country.

"She is very proud of me," said the young man from the eastern coastal province of Zhejiang.