1、1Struggling for a Better LifeIN recent years its been thecase that any major event inChina makes big internation-al news. whether good-likeits heartening growth-or bad,such as food contaminationscandals. The world media alsosystematically chases the ex-panding class of nouveau riche.sports heroes an
2、d entertainmentstars in the nation. Yet scant talkis heard of the less exciting sto-ries about Chinas average loe orJane, how they get by day to daycoping with all the uncertainty,oromise and stress of a societyin flux. To add the missing pieceto the China nuzzle, the NewWorld Press released Real Li
3、feStories of Migrant Workers andUrban Transplants, part of theseries One Hundred ChinesePeoples Dreams. The book is acollection of ten warts-and-allnarrations by selected migrantwoders. Thev represent themost vulnerable group in thecountry, clustered far from theirrural hometowns in big cities.and s
4、ubjected to poor workingconditions, late paychecks andintermittent employment. Each story is told in thetellers own voice:the authorsrendering highlighting theiroersonal and individual human-itv. An Dun only supplementstheir narration, confined to 2briefcomments and backgroundinformation at the conc
5、lusion ofeacn monologue. Migrant workers accountfor over half the population inmany of Chinas metropolisessuch as Beijing and Shanghai.Without a local hukou, or per-manent residency permit, theyare stripped of many benefitsand conveniences associatedwith that status, and simply naveto struggle harde
6、r to achievea decent, dignified life in thebig bad underbellies of urbansettings. Some succeed, but themajority are trapped in limboon the fringes of society. As onenarrator, casual laborer ZhouShuheng, put it:“Recalling nowall the details of my life as a mi-grant worker, I realize that life isnatur
7、al y very difficult for mostpeople who walkthis path. Butfew have paid any attention tous. We have endured so much.but what have we got for it?“ Despite the deep bitternesstoward the nerceived unfair-ness to their kind, more migrantworkers are joining the corpson the road. As for their am-bivalence
8、toward the urbanjungle, An Dun gives this terseexplanation:“They come toseek a better life.“ She intro-duces readers to the specificnotions of a “better life“ held bythe ten people sne interviewea.They vary wildly, but can albe boied down to affluencefor themselves and their lovedones, the aredomina
9、nt desire ofall human beings. In the 3caseof CaoYulan, the motivationto navigate poorly-paid oddjobs far from home is simplyto keeo her brother and sisterin school, an obligation ratherthan a burden for her:and thisis true for her peers in the samecircumstances. Against the stereotype,ten interviewe
10、es in this bookinclude not only rural laborersbut also college graduates andpeople from small towns anccities. Today the term “migrant worker“ is no longer confinedto former farmhands with littleeducation who toil on construc-tion sites or peddle vegetablesin the street. Young people fromless deveop
11、ed regions WhOhave degrees and ambition mayalso head where streers arereputedly “paved with gold.“Their higher education andbetter skills place them in abetter position than the old-typemigrant, but they are still disad-vantaged compared to locals.Du jing, a college graduatefrom Shanxi Province. ChO
12、Se tomake a living in Tianjin. Despiteher high competence as an Eng-lish teacher, her goal to start anEnglish training class met manyobstacles, just because she wasa non-native. A local publickindergarten demanded anunreasonable fee for her use oftheir classroom, and a landlordintentionally increase
13、d the rentwithout any justification, out ofjealousy that she would be mak-ing money by teaching studentsin the apartment. 4The demographic shift thatoroduced the category “migrantworker“ goes with a shift inexpectations and aspirations.Besides money, they also longfor recognition, communityand spiri
14、tual gratification. Thisis trueof al people at alleducational levels and fromall origins, town or country-side. Zhou Shuheng is such anexample. Poverty compelledhim to droo outof high schooland join the labor force. Over13 years, he hopped from oneodd ob to another in Fuzhou,Fujian Province,learning
15、 firsthand the exceptional hardshipand prejudice facing the coun-try folk toiling in cities. He laterrounded up his impressions andwrote them into a novel CalledChinese Migrant Workers,which immediately receivedwidespread public attention. Formerly a journalist withBeijingYouth Daily, An Dun firstea
16、rned herself a Chinese;fan basewith her 1998 bestseller AbsolutePrivacy, which established herstyle of “telling real stories,“ or.having her interviewees fashionthe narrative as they liked. Onexplaining her interest in “smallpotatoes,“ she said:“1 had manyinterviews with the celebs whenworking for t
17、he newspaper. Dur-ing our conversations I often feltalienated from them. In that rankand file you rarely hear a sponta-neous and authentic revelation:different people said the samecanned 5thing on different occa-sions. What these average peopolehave to say makes a lasting andmoving impression. I hope myreaders feel the same way aboutmy book. “
