In the wake of the recent labor movements in China, a 22-year-old plastics factory worker came out and told the press, "I'd rather suffer [from hard work] in the city than [from a boring life] in the village."

In a long profile feature by the Xinhua News Agency, Mr. Gu Xiaochong said his current lifestyle - working 12 hours a day on a BOPP packaging production line - is far better than harvesting wheat in his home village in Shandong province.

"In the village, people are valued by how much they make," he said.

But what really keeps Gu from going back is the boring rural life and the lack of entertainment. "Even though you have money, you have nowhere to go to spend it."

Gu has been working in the city since he was 16, when he graduated from a technical training school. For the past two years, he has been a line operator at a plastic packaging factory in Tianjin city.

Gu is determined to settle down in the city and has a plan to own a home in the suburbs. He said his parents never ask him for money and have offered to support him financially with the down payment. His father works on construction sites not far from the home village, making 3,000 yuan ($442) a month.

"I make more than that," Gu said with pride. His first job paid 1,200 yuan ($177) a month and the second job 1,300 yuan ($192), both in mid-sized cities. Four years later, he took a friend's advice and came to Tianjin, the sixth largest city in China.

"In smaller cities, some local residents really show discrimination against migrant workers, whereas in a real big city, the line between local and newcomers is faded," he said.

Gu has a girlfriend back in the village, who works at a garment factory. Their communication is all done through cell phone text messages. He dreams of the day when he can buy an apartment in Tianjin, get married and have his wife stay home. He doesn't want her to work hard at a factory, and he said his coworkers share similar plans.

He wants his next generation to attend school in the city, and he wants be more like a "city person".

"They don't just dress well. The way they speak and the way their carry themselves look so educated. I think I need to study more to be like that." To do that, he hopes to get training from the factory and brush up on his English and computer skills.