Advertisement

       SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

       You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.

       Supported by

       SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

       the new new world

       They Propelled China’s Rise. Now They Have Nothing to Fall Back On.

       Migrant workers, who moved from China’s villages to its big cities, were a secret weapon building the economy. Now many see few options.

       Share full article

       45

       Credit...Xinmei Liu

       By Li Yuan

       Nov. 1, 2023

       阅读简体中文版 阅读繁体中文版

       When Zhang left his village in northeastern China a decade ago to work as a welder in a big city, jobs were plentiful. He earned about $50 a day and managed to save most of it.

       But this year he has yet to find a welding job. After he moved to the southern metropolis Guangzhou in March, his only paycheck, roughly $820 for 40 days, came from selling weight-loss products on a social media app. He had to respond to customer inquiries at all hours. Now he’s not working at all and has run out of his savings. He pays $55 a month in rent for a tiny studio apartment but pinches every other penny. The morning we talked, he said he’d had a bowl of instant noodles, one of two meals he eats a day.

       Things wouldn’t be much better back in his village. Mr. Zhang’s family grows corn on a tiny patch of land, generating about $200 a year. His grandparents, both 74, still farm; each gets a pension of less than $15 a month. His father is a migrant worker in Beijing. His mother, unemployed, is looking for a job.

       At 28, Mr. Zhang, who asked that I use only his surname, is not married and does not plan to have children. “I don’t dare to think too far ahead,” he said. “I just want to earn some money to keep myself alive.” He said he would go home soon if he could not find work.

       Migrant workers were for years the secret weapon of China’s economic rise. They left their villages for the big cities to earn a living and send money home, even if it meant that they had to work long hours, lived in cramped dormitories and rarely saw their loved ones.

       They built China’s skyscrapers, highways and high-speed railways, even though some senior officials called them “low-end population.” Their cheap wages helped China become the world’s biggest manufacturer and make the country’s megacities hum.

       We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

       Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

       We are confirming your access to this article, this will take just a moment. However, if you are using Reader mode please log in, subscribe, or exit Reader mode since we are unable to verify access in that state.

       Confirming article access.

       If you are a subscriber, please log in .

       Advertisement

       SKIP ADVERTISEMENT