“My ideal country is one where people live in peace and prosperity, where there is food security, freedom of speech, justice, a media that can expose injustice, a five-day, eight-hour work week for workers,” Shri said. Zhang, unemployed welder. “If these can be achieved, I will support whoever is in power, no matter what their party is or how long they rule.”
The other reality facing migrant workers is that returning to their villages to earn money for farming is not an option, as Mr Xi said. There is not enough land waiting for them. They are called “”surplus rural labor force” in China Officer And academic Sermon for a cause.
“Only people who can’t find jobs will do farming, because the income from farming is very low,” said Guan, a migrant worker from the northwestern province of Gansu.
Mr Guan, 30, worked as a real estate agent in Shenzhen for five years before moving back to his home village in late 2019. Now he operates excavation machines. He lives in makeshift houses made of sheet metal on construction sites, works 10 hours a day and is paid only for the days he worked, about $50 a day, with no benefits.
He wants to earn as much money as possible while he is young. Based on several WeChat message groups on projects he has worked on, he also knows that the number of construction projects is declining, and some workers are not getting paid. He believes that retirement may never come.
“Honestly, I feel lost inside,” he said. “All I can say is that for now, I will save as much money as possible. As far as the future is concerned, it is really difficult to say. I may not even live to see that era.”
