The Burdens and Pains of Urbanization: A Survey of Migrant Workers in Guangzhou

Author: Hu Jing et al.
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-06-01
Features: In the process of China's economic development, the main force of urbanization is actually migrant workers and their families. However, due to the deeply entrenched dualistic system, the society dominated by the city has always been very indifferent to this protagonist. As a result, this vast group of low-educated individuals lacks its own organization and voice. Therefore, the tragic role of migrant workers in the urbanization process is often inevitable. Their desperate cries for their loved ones when a mine collapses, their confused, helpless, and sorrowful eyes lying in hospital beds due to work-related injuries, and their almost neurotic silence in resisting unpaid wages on towering cranes—all are "iconic" actions of migrant workers, and the scars left on individual farmers by the urbanization tide of 21st-century China. This book can only reluctantly select 23 "slices" to reflect the living and working conditions of migrant workers in Guangzhou across more than ten fields. The truth and facts presented will undoubtedly shock and inform readers: the burdens and pains of today's history are the burdens and pains of migrant workers. The content of this book is divided into:
1. Youth Chapter: The Pain of Urbanization
2. Middle Age Chapter: The Burden of Urbanization
3. Old Age Chapter: Where is the Homeland?
4. Boss Chapter: The Dream of Urbanization