By Xu Chunzi (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-12-04 07:42

Tao and Cao turned to community work for personal fulfillment. The community is Libang Village, where rural migrants feel like locals.

In 2003, Libang Village changed its name to Libang Compound to embrace its urban identity.

Libang also elected its own committees including a Communist Party office, a family planning committee and a women's association.

Cao Lingyan quits her work in a factory and turns to community work for personal fulfilment.

Tao and Cao jumped at the opportunity and became actively involved in committee organization.

More than 90 percent of Libang's residents are aged between 18-24 and these young workers needed a venue to socialize and unleash their youthful creativity.

After working all day, people congregated at the canteen and the many function rooms in the compound, where they could eat, chat, relax, read and watch television.

There are also specialized programs and classes, such as break dancing and table tennis for the more dedicated.

In 2005, both Tao and Cao quit their factory jobs to work full time for Libang compound. Although they made less than half of what they used to make at the factory, they felt like they were learning and improving more through their new community-based work.

"I've met a lot of interesting people, learned to socialize and consider things more holistically," says Tao about her position at Libang's women's association.

With her colleagues, Tao organizes cooking competitions, modeling classes, English tutorials and fashion seminars for women and men alike.

Twenty-year-old Libang resident Zhang Xingxing thinks of Tao as a teacher and a good friend.

"She is a highly capable modern woman," says Zhang, "very bubbly, too."

Last year, the young woman achieved a college diploma in accounting after three years of study after work. Tao is moving on to a Bachelor's degree, also in accounting. A bookworm since young, she hopes to eventually become a bookstore owner.

Both have found love in the city. This year, Cao married her boyfriend, a local of Fenghua and can now call the city her real home.

All these real-life details went into Two Butterflies. Set in Libang, the film premiered in March. A few free screenings followed at several rural migrant centers. The workers watched their own lives on the big screen.

Tao and Cao both had minor roles in the film. They found acting easy, having performed a lot in front of cameras and crowds at community get-togethers. Watching the film, Tao and Cao were sometimes moved to tears witnessing some of their tougher times depicted on screen. However, their story has a happy ending.

Every year, 18 million rural dwellers flock to China's 660 cities, contributing to the cities' economy and culture in innumerable ways.

This population shift, which marks China's urbanization, is one of the greatest and swiftest in world history.

Usually less educated and thus confined to manual labor, rural migrant workers are some of the toughest and most underpaid of China's workers and often the most misunderstood people in society.

As one character puts it in the film, "we were all farmers in the last life."

Indeed, one generation ago, everyone worked in the fields. Then, all of a sudden, China's urbanization took off with a kind of violence and vengeance against centuries of backwardness.

"This film honestly reflects the lives of modern migrant workers," says Zhang Xingxing.

"Maybe it will change some people's prejudiced opinions about us," says another to Qianjiang Evening News.

Now, the city of Fenghua is catching up on "new citizens".

Every time she hears someone use the term, Tao is filled with pride and would whisper to the next person: "Hey, that was my idea."

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