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A massive migration of workers

By Zhang Ran (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-10-06 13:56

A migrant life

With the establishment of Shenzhen as the country's first special economic zone, the Pearl River Delta witnessed the first influx of foreign joint ventures and the first generation of rural laborers.

"Even though I had imagined it thousands of times before I came here, I still felt shocked when I first saw Shekou (district in southwest Shenzhen). No highway, no trees, no flowers, and everywhere everything was under construction. Isn't it countryside?" In a Shenzhen Economic Daily column about the first generation of female migrant workers, Zheng Yanping recalled her early working experience in the Kaida Toy Factory located in the Shekou district of Shenzhen in 1982.

Many young people aged around 18 to 20, came to Shenzhen at the beginning of the 1980s. In 1996, the total population of Shenzhen was 3.45 million, while the number of original residents was 880,000, which means more than two thirds of the "citizens" were migrant workers. Of these, 68 percent were female who worked in manufacturing factories. Their average age was 23.

"The wages were good and mine was 80 yuan per month, more than my mother who had 20 years' working experience," Zheng recalled. The salary was partly paid in yuan and partly in Hong Kong dollars, and some were paid with foreign exchange coupons, which they could trade for imported goods, such as Hitachi TVs, rice cookers and name brand toothpaste, all of which were "luxuries" for most Chinese people at the time.

Though the good pay encouraged many young people such as Zhen to work hard, it took its toll. In order to finish the mounting orders from overseas, the toy factories often forced laborers to work overtime. They had to sacrifice their Sundays, and some had to work until 4 to 6 am before getting a brief sleep and returning to work again.

Back at his original Shijiazhuang jean factory, Zhen Bo worked six days a week, eight hours a day. He used to go out with friends after taking off work at 4 pm in Shijiazhuang, doing some shopping or eating. Now in Foshan all his leisure time is spent sleeping and he rarely has any time to go out.

But Zhen believes it's worth it. Youth and a healthy body is the only thing he can pay for a brighter future. "I have calculated. I earned 44 yuan per hour back in Shijiazhuang, but the factories had too many penalties. Often you have to pay a 5 for 10 yuan fine for any small quality problems. Here I can make 150 yuan a day. Plus there are seldom fines."

Things are getting better. Though in Foshan, Zhen has to work 12 hours a day, seven days a week with one day off a month, occasionally he can also enjoy some national holidays. This year, he and his colleagues took one day off work for the Dragon Boat Festival, which they never would have expected in the past. "The boss has to let us take one day off work, otherwise, the government will punish the company," he says.

But what is more important to Zhen is that the working environment is improving.

"The machines are imported from Hong Kong. They are much better than a few years ago," he emphasized. By "better" Zhen not only means they are more efficient, but also do less harm to workers.

A few years ago in many textile factories exposure to toxic materials was widespread. Many factories used toxic chemical materials to dye jeans, and inhaling the fumes was harmful. But many of them had to work in such an environment as long as 16 hours a day and received no compensation.

According to Zhen, the new machines greatly reduce workers' exposure to toxic materials. "There is much more space for one machine to operate now. And people are separated from the harmful working space."

Actually, most of the hundreds of factories in the Pearl River and Yangtze River deltas' manufacturing parks have made changes in environmental protection and improved laborers' working conditions due to increased pressure from employees and the government in the past few years.

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