Migrant workers in China

Their current number is estimated at 150 million, or 11.5 per cent of the population, nearly double that of 10 years ago. Many of them come from ethnic minorities areas.

In October, eRenlai magazine featured a special Focus about the life of Yi migrants in China's big cities: voice records, interviews and photo reportages compose the precious testimonies of this neglected population.

Here is a bouquet of articles, flash animations and voices records to know more and understand better this phenomenon in China:

Yi Migrant Workers in Chengdu by Liang Zhun

"The Yi workers range in age from 20 to 40 years old, so they are carrying the twin burdens of supporting their elders and caring for their children, who sometimes number three or four.They still have to send money back home (around 500 Yuan per month) in order to satisfy the demanding expectations and wishes of their families in their hometowns. To save money, several workers rent a single room together so each one only pays 50 to 60 Yuan per month. The living conditions are barely adequate and the hygiene extremely poor..."

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Migrant Workers and Local Development by Bertrand Cristau

"The migration of young people from the Chinese countryside to cities raises a number of questions about the future of rural and mountainous areas. Will this exodus create deserted areas, without working force and creativity, or will these youth come back to transform and energize their place of origins?"

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From Liangshan to Shenzhen by Hua Li (voice in Chinese)

"I am just back from Shenzhen where I worked for three months in a plant doing cell phones, assembling parts. My formation lasted for 3 or 4 days, and afterwards I worked. The salary was 1,000 RMB, but once all the fees were deducted we were earning 700 RMB a month. We were 23 to leave together. The others still work in this factory. I came back because I heard about this opportunity in Shanghai.In this factory, after one year you can sign a contract. Before that, you are just a temporary worker.I’d like to study a technique, a trade, whatever which. I’d like to help the poorer people around here. I think we should plant more vegetables. I am interested in the greenhouse project."

Ethnic migrant workers in China today by B. Vermander
"The needs and difficulties faced by ethnic minority migrant workers are multi faceted: they comprise (a) the lack or the very poor quality of the formal education received before they have left; (b) the general problems met by migrant workers all over China (housing, working conditions, lack of work contracts, healthcare…); (c) additional difficulties linked to their cultural and linguistic estrangement; (d) lack of sustainable community projects at home, which also means (e) lack of long-term perspectives and subsequent difficulty in formulating a personal project.. ."
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And plenty other testimonies, studies and articles on eRenlai.com

“Old and Rich Countries Seek Immigrants”

“Old and Rich Countries Seek Immigrants”

This is the title of an article from the French newspaper Le Monde (Pays riche et vieux cherche immigrés dated April 28). This article stresses out the fact that rich and aging countries needs immigration if they want to reverse the decay of their population. The article mainly relies on a report released by the UN in April. For example, if France wants to have the same amount of inhabitants in 2050 as today, the country has to receive “1.5 million immigrants between 2025 and 2050”; if France wants to keep the same amount of people at the age of work, it has to accept 136000 more foreigners per year than it does now. These numbers are still not much higher than the ones of the actual situation. But, if the French government wants to keep the same ratio of “potential support (that is to say the number of people at the age of work in relation to the people over 65) as in 1995 (i.e. a ratio of 4.4), then, the country will have to accept 20 to 40 times more immigrants than in the last decade.

When a French journalist emphasizes the population decline of France and other developed countries, the English Telegraph’s article entitled UN predicts huge migration to rich countries seems more worried about the future increase of population and the future “invasion” of immigrants: “ – Can the UK cope with nine million more people? At least 2.2 million migrants will arrive in the rich world every year from now until 2050, the United Nations said yesterday. Britain's population will rise from 60 million to approaching 69 million by 2050 - almost entirely because of immigration. […] There will be billions more people in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Of these, tens of millions will migrate to Europe and America, while the indigenous populations of most countries in the rich world will either stagnate or decline.”
The fear of the barbarian invasion has to be moderated when one knows that between 1990 and 2000, the rate of migrants to the developed countries was 2.5 million, i.e. higher than the one predicted from now until 2050 (2.2 million according to the Telegraph and 2.3 million according to Le Monde).

To complete this information, you can also read the report about International Migrations Today which compares the political, legal and cultural situation in the US, the UK, Chile, Australia and other countries.

Bananas and eggs........

(Painting by Pan Yu Liang)

Before arriving to Taiwan, I didn’t know I was “so Chinese”. As I have already said, I’m a banana (in between, I’ve discovered that the opposite – white outside and yellow inside – is called an “egg”). As I look Chinese, it seems normal that Taiwanese people at first glance, consider me as being a Taiwanese too. When I just arrived to Taiwan, I didn’t have the reaction yet to say that I am a “Huaqiao” or “Huayi” - that is to say “overseas Chinese” or “FBC” (French born Chinese) - I would simply reply that I was French when people would ask me with a suspicious look : “ You’re not Taiwanese, are you?” (I’m quite proud to say that I hear that sentence not that often now, must be a proof that my oral Chinese has improved a lot…) I even experienced some funny looks when I was saying with confidence that I am French like “I had no idea French and Asian people look alike so much…” Once, in a supermarket, I almost had an argument with the cashier. She would keep asking me “are you sure you are French? You must be Chinese, why do you speak Chinese with a funny accent?” and I had to moderate my answer explaining that my mother is Taiwanese but I was born in France etc… At the end she just said, “Well, you are still Chinese, that’s all!”

Is being Chinese a fatality? Or is a fatality being Chinese?

As soon as I arrived in Taiwan, I started having some identity troubles. Strangely, I almost never felt these itches while I was in France. Especially in Paris where people are so mixed. Maybe some would think I am a tourist, but everybody can potentially be a tourist over there, it mainly depends on the way you are dressed, your way of being, more than your physical appearance. It never came to my mind to say I am a French Born Chinese. Of course people would eventually ask me where my parents are from, if I was born in France. But my saying I’m French had never been something strange or rare.

Here, in Taiwan, I’m actually experiencing a strange transformation: the “banana-becomes-an-egg” mutation. First, I gradually changed my answer, now I always mention the fact that my mother is Taiwanese, etc. “Nice to meet you, I’m Cerise. Don’t be surprised, I’m a French born Chinese, my mother is Taiwanese but I was born in France and I have lived there almost all my life.” That became my name card. By means of repeating I’m Chinese, I really started to believe it (the “kouei method”, by auto-suggestion seems to work after all!)

Is this what immigration and integration are about? Before coming to Taiwan, I didn’t know whether I would acclimatize myself so much. Some of my Taiwanese friends say it is normal, it must be in my genes. Then I, my mother and my brother must also have French genes because we are pretty well integrated in the French Nation. For what I know, I am a “pure Han product”, I was born with two blue spots on the bottom (don’t worry, they disappear when the baby grows up) and I have a visible line on my forearm which are said to be the genetic marks of Han people. Both of my parents are Hakkas, a Chinese linguistic group and, when I was a child, my father used to say proudly that my brother and I were 100% Hakkas… with a “little something French”, would he add in order to tickle. Then, from the genetic angle, I cannot claim to be the result of mixes like American people for example (About that subject, read this very amusing text by Bob: My Chance Encounters with Chance.) But on the cultural front, I am the result of my parents’ past migration to France : a French girl with a little something of Chinese… Guess what!...

Today’s favourites
My Chance Encounters with Chance by Bob
International Migrations Today by Kailing Wang