Migrant Workers in China Migrant

Migrant Workers in China

Migrant Workers

Migrant workers are a reality not only in America, but all over the countries to our Southern borders, as well as countries in the East, such as China. The truth is, migrant workers exist everywhere, for the countryside always offers less opportunity than the city, and thus the capitals often attract labor, usually cheaper, to do the lower, dirtier works for the inhabitants of a city and often, a country (Migrant Workers, ILO, 2012). This paper will discuss an article written by Daniel Wright on this topic, and will thus examine the situation of migrant workers in the Chinese province of Guizhou.

This article starts with a simple enough narrative; the visit of a man to a small village where he speaks to the villagers and receives various impressions of the countryside, and living within it, in China. Yet Mr. Wright is focusing on a more specific topic that simply receiving a tourist's impressions of the Chinese countryside. He is in China to discuss migrant labor, and see how these laborers live in a nearby provincial capital. Wright makes it perfectly clear that life is no picnic, neither in the countryside, nor in the city.

In fact, his account of the journey begins with the examination of his friend's relatives, all of who live in the countryside. The stern declaration "life is hard in Guizhou's countryside" is followed by a description of the conditions, which include "road less sheer mountains, shallow soil, no running water, backbreaking labor, stripped forests, too many mouths to feed..." -this is the reality of China's villages.

Because of the harshness that the farmers experience in their villages, and because of the constant need for cash, they are forced, by circumstance, to work in the cities. Yet they cannot obtain proper jobs in the city, due to a 1950's law that has successfully segregated them from city-dwellers. Though the law is no longer enforced, the villagers continue to experience disrespect and humiliation due to the fact that their jobs are at the lowest end of the working spectrum, and they are considered to be not only uneducated, but also dirty, by city-dwellers who often, as seen in the article, yell at them, bark commands, and make them feel truly discriminated against. Though the city offers no social status, it does offer the much-needed cash these farmers need. In a village where the average annual income is $60, these migrant workers can make twice as that, or even three times, in a year of working in the city, thereby allowing opportunity for their sons and daughters to be schooled properly.