For many migrant workers, reading means perusing outdated dog-eared magazines, movie-going comes once every few years, live shows are practically nonexistent, and entertainment usually entails card-playing and mobile games, according to an expert on the plight of the migrants.

The unremarkable cultural life of the growing group that now numbers 269 million, or around one-fifth of the nation's population, was among concerns at the recent session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

"They spend 2 percent of their total income on cultural activities," said He Xiangjiu, an author and CPPCC member who interviewed more than 100 migrant workers undercover in the past two years across the country and provided the above description of their life.