At a time when China celebrates the earth-braking development it has achieved in the past three decades, Beijing finally is recognizing the enormous contribution of a special group: the millions of Chinese people who left their villages and townships to work in manufacturing, construction and services in the booming urban areas.
There's no question, in my opinion, that China's economic miracle couldn't have happened without these hard-working citizens. The Chinese central government, for the first time in history, awarded 1,000-plus "outstanding peasant workers" -- I personally prefer to call them "migrant workers" out of respect -- at a recent, high-profile ceremony in Beijing's Great Hall of the People.A quick search of the honorary list from the Department of Labor yielded about a dozen plastics workers, including Mr. Su Bing, a team leader at Kautex Maschinenbau GmbH's operation in Shunde, Guangdong province.Thank you, migrant workers!SEARCH
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Long overdue kudos to Chinese 'peasant workers'
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COMMENTS (2)
Matt:
No one can deny the great sacrifice that many workers have made in moving away from friends and family to find meaningful work. One however must ask was it out of necessity or a national movement in support of the greater good. Given my discussions with friends and coworkers in China it has been more out of necessity. If they could find similar work near their hometowns they would move in a minute. I have always been thankful to be able to find and maintain meaningful work in my home state.
Nina:
Thanks Matt for your insight.
Right now, hundreds of thousands of migrant workers (no exact numbers are available, but the government is just starting to track the move) are actually leaving the industrial regions and going back to their hometowns. What's happening in China is that factories in the traditional manufacturing bases on the east coast are cutting jobs and lowering wages, and many foreign and domestic investors are going to the inland areas, where everything costs less, and setting up factories. So, things are definitely different than a decade or two ago. Some migrant workers are even starting small businesses in their hometowns with the money they made at factories in the city.