The end is where we start from, isn't it? Sometimes, we are just too used to the current life, we need someone else to put an end to it before motivation arises for a new -- and better -- life.

A layoff can do just that. Millions of jobless Chinese migrant workers are bidding farewell to the coastal industrial bases and returning home to their villages, their lives about to unfold new chapters.

Take a look at Longnan county in Jiangxi province. During the past two decades, laborers left their rice paddies and went to work at modern factories in nearby Guangdong province. But as businesses transfer from Guangdong to less expensive inland regions, Longnan has seen a boost of local manufacturing and therefore a demand for more workers.

"Around mid-2008, the county was short 13,000 workers," local employment authorities told Guangzhou Daily. "So we've been trying to recruit people back to Longnan. We still have 5,000 jobs to fill and will organize a job fair right after the Chinese New Year. Hopefully many returnees can stay here."

Certainly, factories in Longnan don't pay as much as those in Guangdong. But not having to be away from home definitely makes up for the discrepancy in wages, emotionally and financially -- living at home slams living expenses.

For Xiao Liangbo and his wife Rong Suqing, post-migrant-worker life is pretty good. After working for a plastics factory in Panyu, Guangdong province, for 15 years, Xiao decided to go back home and open his own factory. In 2004, he partnered with a few other returnees and started producing plastic hangers and clips. Their factory now employs more than 80 and the products are exclusively exported to Japan and America. "Not bad at all! Our orders have piled up to April already," Rong said.