It would be unfair to say that Chinese society ignores the problems faced by migrant workers. Over the past few years, governments at all levels have been committed to putting forward various policies that cover many of the problems faced by migrant workers. Economists are concerned with the sustainability of China's "demographic bonus" : how long can China exploit the cheap labor which accounts for 27% of its population and which has fueled China's rapid economic development over the past thirty years. Sociologists are paying close attention to the 45% urbanization rate and the dual structure of urban/rural development that has remained unchanged for sixty years, whilst anthropologists are beginning to notice a "third branch of urban culture" that is quietly taking shape within migrant workers' communities. The Ministry of Education is concerned with the question of where the children of migrant workers should attend school as well as whether or not they should be allowed to take university entrance exams in their host cities. The Ministry of Communications and the Ministry of Railways are both trying to tackle the problems caused by the annual exodus of migrant workers returning home for the Spring Festival. Trade unions are concerned with maintaining standards in migrant worker canteens and bathhouses and women's federations are attaching more importance to making sure migrant workers receive gynecological examinations and contraceptives. Business owners worry about labor shortage. Public security institutions and municipal administrations are becoming more concerned with social stability. Communities are paying closer attention to environmental health standards; white-collars are less dismissive about odors in subway carriages. A certain doctor of occupational diseases even recently expressed his concern regarding the color of fluid discharge in the lungs of pneumoconiosis sufferers: "The color is differentdepending on the trade: black for coal miners; grey-brown for cement plant workers; muddy yellow for woodworkers…" For the new generation of migrant workers, it is easy to attract attention, but there is still a long way to go before the issues raised actually translate into concrete change.
In this year's CCTV Spring Festival Gala, the band Xuri Yanggang's performance of the song "In Spring" struck a note with millions all over the country. Critics raved that their song "embodied the vital force with which those from the lowest rungs of society defiantly pursue their dreams."
Meanwhile in Picun, someone else sings for the new generation of migrant workers.
Her name is Duan Yu, and she is a member of Picun Working Youths' Art Troupe. An ardent singer and songwriter, Duan Yu wrote a folk song called "Jinfeng Is My Name" , in which are the following four lines:
They call my name,
They call me migrant working girl.
But I have my own name,
Jinfeng is my name.
I once asked Duan Yu, "How did it occur to you to write such a song?"
Duan Yu recalled, "In 2008, I was a kindergarten teacher in Wangjing. Back then a professor from Beijing Normal University was working on a project called 'The Community Sisters', aimed at bringing together female workers in the area (such as janitors, cleaners and housekeepers) and teaching them about law, as well as providing practical lessons in singing and cooking. I volunteered to teach them to sing in this project. Among those who came to our activities was a chubby girl from Hebei. Every time that she came, she sat quietly in the corner and barely uttered a word. She even refused to sing with us. Only after she gradually warmed to me did I get to know that her name was 'Jinfeng'. At the age of sixteen, she went to work in a toy factory in Shenzhen where she had stayed for four years. Later she had been a hairdresser, and then a waitress. Now, she was working in a small factory making beaded handicrafts. She is twenty-four years old, and has worked in strange cities among total strangers for eight years, with no friends and no romance, not to mention marriage or a family. As we talked about these things, both of us were on the verge of tears. I totally understood her dilemma. Like all young workers in the city, her basic needs were fulfilled. But with no support network, and no future, she was left feeling empty and confused. Once during class, Jinfeng didn't show up, and I haven't seen her since. She disappeared like a grain of sand or a leaf in a Beijing sandstorm. Did she go back to her hometown? Or perhaps she got married? Jinfeng's disappearance got me thinking. The hardest thing to forget were her questions. She once asked me, why couldn't the city people remember her? Why did they always call her the working girl, even after she had devoted her best years to them? I got my inspiration for this song from these questions. For Jinfeng, who was so honest and timid, I want to ask the city people: I have my own name, my name is Jinfeng. Can you remember it?"
Duan Yu told me that every time she performed for migrant workers, she would sing Jinfeng Is My Name. It was extremely popular and when it came to the verse "I have my own name, / Jinfeng is my name," the audience would get very excited. Some would sing along, and others would shout out, "I have my own name!" "We have our own names!"
I have my own name!
We have our own names!
I seem to hear millions of young migrant workers calling it out.
Since last year, and in order to write this report, I have done countless interviews and have met many young migrant workers of all trades. They poured out their hearts to me; their joys and sorrows, their ambitions and humble wishes. Their grandfathers, of the first generation of migrant workers, went to the cities carrying nothing but a gunnysack just to get enough clothing and food. Their fathers, of the second generation, went to the cities carrying a tarpaulin bag with dreams of making their fortune. However, today's youth come to the cities with a suitcase. When they work, they work in the hope of forging their own identity. They want to be respected. From the first moment that they arrive in the city, they are preoccupied with thoughts of realizing their own "city dreams" .
So, you see, the closer I get to them, the more I get to know them; and the more I get to know them, the more I feel worried and uneasy.
The migrant workers of the new generation have made a great contribution to our country's economy;
The migrant workers of the new generation live a very hard life in the cities;
The migrant workers of the new generation are indispensible to the cities;
The migrant workers of the new generation are not willingly accepted by their host cities;
The problems faced by migrant workers of the new generation urgently need to be resolved no matter how difficult they might be …