Society

Migrant workers caught up in the web

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-05-22 15:24

Online world not enough

"Of course, the Internet has not been enough to change the fate of China's migrant workers," Qiu says.

China is now home to some 230 million migrant workers. Qiu says it is common for them to work over 10 hours each day.

"Spare time is precious for them, and a weekend often means having just one day off," says Qiu.

"I really hope that local governments and plant managers will give their workers more significant opportunities for their time off, as it is important for them to loosen up from time to time," Qiu says.

Xiaoxiaocao, meaning "delicate grass" in Chinese, is a service for migrant workers based in Shenzhen that has provided film screenings, reading rooms and recruitment information for the city's migrant laborers since 2003.

The program was initiated by the migrant workers themselves and sponsored by Oxfam Hong Kong. The program currently has 60 registered members.

Wang Baoli, a 21-year-old former migrant worker, has been working for Xiaoxiaocao for one year. She used to work on an assembly line in a mobile phone factory in the coastal city of Xiamen in East China's Fujian province, where she earned a salary of 1,600 yuan per month.

"Although I only earn 2,000 yuan each month now, it's rewarding for me to help enrich the spare time of migrant workers like me," she says.

She has organized several singing competitions and guitar classes for migrant workers. "I feel great when I see happiness appearing on their faces," she says.

The cultural departments of several cities in Guangdong province, such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai, have built more Internet bars near factories in those cities to cater to migrant workers' growing desire for Internet access.

The provincial government has also asked cities to create websites for migrant workers that will give them information on cultural activities, public services, recruitment and recreation. The websites are designed to boost exchanges between migrant workers and the rest of society and promote their sense of belonging in the province's biggest cities.