In order to dive into the world of rural sex workers so as to better understand and to speak up for them, Liumang Yan decided to become a prostitute for a day last week. To be more exact, she didn't exactly prostitute herself -- she offered sexual services free of charge to migrant workers. Along the way, she posted updates on Sina and Tencent Weibo, telling her followers about the hardships faced by the women she met, and the men she served. more ›

42-year-old Hubei native Zeng Yueying arrived in Wenzhou with her husband in 2006 to look for work. Three years ago, they began working as road sweepers. One day last year, a friend from their hometown hid their son as a joke, sending them into a panic attack when they thought that someone had abducted their son. Since then, Zeng has kept her 3-year-old son, Liu Shuai, by her side wherever she goes, even when she's at work sweeping the city streets. more ›

A property developer in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, not only refused to pay its 2,000 migrant workers' wages on time, but also beat them up when they had the audacity to demand for payment, leaving 37 wounded. more ›

The two window cleaners who plunged to their deaths from the 22nd storey of the the Pacific Business Center on Yan'an Road yesterday could have been linked to each other by a safety harness. (We're not reposting the images here. Click here if you absolutely must see them.) more ›

Around 1:40pm this afternoon two window washers working outside the Pacific Business Center on Yan'an Road were killed when they fell from an unknown height onto a car parked below. more ›

A school for the children of Beijing's migrant workers, Dongba Experimental School (东坝实验学校) in Chaoyang district, was ordered to shut in August before the school year began, as part of the government's effort to keep migrant workers from settling permanently in Beijing. Though the staff decided to continue holding classes despite the official pressure, the teachers could finally continue no further, and had to announce that the school would be ending classes permanently. more ›

After Hang's sister Hang Yuexiang refused to sign the slip that declared her abstention from voting, the four men began attacking her, kicking her to the ground and scratching at her hair. Hang then came to his sister's rescue, only for the men's focus to turn towards him, while fighting off any of Hang's neighbors who tried to help. more ›

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Holidays are meant as a time for the reunification of families, when children return to the folds of the home from whence they left to pursue their own lives and dreams. However, due to long distances and financial burdens, many people found it simply impossible to return home this year, creating thousands of "empty nests" (空巢, kōngcháo) across China. In the pictures above, one photographer for Xinhua News traveled around Shaanxi (陕西) Province and documented the impact urbanization has had on rural families whose chairs and homes remain empty over a holiday season meant to celebrate the family. more ›

Not that we have anything against migrant workers, mind you. As long as all the blood is properly screened, there shouldn't be any problems, right? Shanghai health authorities released a report yesterday that claims only 1.17 percent of the city's population are blood donors, and that 70 percent of all blood donations from street donation centers come from non-local migrant workers. Other statistics claim that China's national blood donation rate stands at 0.87 percent, which is lower than the 4.54 percent and 1.01 percent seen in high-income to middle-income countries, respectively. Shanghai's blood reserves are currently in dire straits, with available blood for emergencies being 30 percent lower than what's necessary, and blood type A supplies standing at 35 percent lower than needed. more ›

Is industrial safety standard reform going to happen anytime soon? Fires and other accidents certainly occur often enough: "At least 14 people were killed when a fire ripped through a dormitory building belonging to a ceramics factory in south China early Tuesday, the local government said. The blaze engulfed the building belonging to the Shengfeng Ceramics Factory in Foshan city, a manufacturing centre in China's southern Guangdong province, the local government said in a statement on its website. The fire took three hours to extinguish, leaving 14 people dead and two others seriously wounded, the statement said, without identifying the victims. According to the People's Daily website, two people were killed when they leapt from the windows of the building. The cause of the blaze is under investigation, the People's Daily report said." [AFP]. more ›

Henanese migrant workers staged a self-burial in protest of wages they were owed Tuesday in Zhengzhou, Henan province. more ›

Five migrant workers caught stealing cables from the Shanghai-Beijing high-speed railway have been sentenced to five years in prison each, Shanghai Daily reports. The 580 kilogram cables they took were not very important, thank god, but rather were unused cables from the elevated bridge in Jiading District's Nanxiang area. They are said to have a value of nearly 50,000 yuan (US$7,728). So apparently migrant workers are now both building our high speed rails and tearing them apart. more ›

The past week has seen an unnerving amount of violence and unrest in China. Here's a roundup of what's happening: more ›

Riots and clashes with police occurred in Chaozhou (潮州) in eastern Guangdong province on Monday night, after a migrant worker's son was injured in a knife attack over a wage dispute. 18 people were injured an 9 were detained following a protest that involving hundreds of migrant workers, reportedly from Sichuan province. more ›

Recently plagued by corruption scandals and constantly overshadowed by completion deadlines, it certainly is easy to forget about the living force propelling China's high-speed rail network forward. We are witnessing the second-largest public works program in history, after the interstate system in America, and the human aspect is all but lost when thinking in numbers like one trillion RMB and 120,000 km.Thanks to Youth Times (年青时报) photographer Wang Xinke, one part of this process, the Shanghai-Hangzhou high-speed rail link completed in October of 2010, has been recorded for posterity. more ›

The postcard face of Shanghai may be all metal and skyscrapers, but standing in stark contrast to that are Shanghai slums like Gao Bang. A mostly migrant immigrant population reside in the maze of narrow streets and run-down houses. Demolition work is slated for this area in about one or two years and residents say that they'll have to look for other "villages within a city" to live then. more ›

This past weekend, a group of photographers from the Shanghai Flickr Meetup came together to participate in Help Portrait. Help Portrait (http://help-portrait.com) was first started in the with the idea for photographers to give back to their local community through their equipment and skills. It has since bloomed into a global movement that spans across all the continents, from across the USA to Milan, Tokyo, UAE, Malaysia and Australia. more ›

Lately you can barely make it through a Twitter feed without reading something about the dismal job market for college graduates in China. Whether it's flocking to US universities to boost their chances of employment or using their diplomas to compete for Ayi jobs, for the undergraduate in China, the situation has gone from discouraging to just plain bad. But migrant worker bad? more ›

Six million census takers given the gargantuan task of counting the world's most populous country began making their rounds yesterday, but despite the government's efforts to accurately account for the population, two groups in particular are proving troublesome. more ›

Unfortunately, I don't have a TV, so I totally missed the premier of on Shanghai's Dragon TV channel. But now the videos are up on Youtube, and I've gotten a chance to pick out highlights. And boy are there some highlights. more ›

Yesterday I translated half of Southern Weekly's excellent article on McRefugees - those who make their homes in 24-hour fast food restaurants at night - and their lives in Shanghai. Here's Part II: more ›

A study published today has found that China's rural children are three to six times more likely to die than those in urban areas. Ten children out of 1,000 died before the age of five in the richest cities, compared to 64 in poorer rural regions. more ›

Making it in Shanghai is tough - especially for the kids of those who didn't manage to hit the wave of prosperity during the early years of opening and reform. Youku Buzz has highlighted this film, a recent entry into the ongoing 17th Beijing University Student Film Festival titled "Tina's Life in Shanghai." more ›

Finally, it seems like migrant parents might have an easier time here. Shanghai is aiming to be the first Chinese city to offer free education for all "school-age" children of working migrants, with both public and private elementary and middle schools receiving government money to improve facilities and teachers. Already 97.3 percent of the 400,000 children of migrant workers are enrolled in schools, China Daily reported Wednesday. The idea is that the remaining 2.7 percent, or 10,000 non-local kids, will be able to benefit from free education like the rest of the gang. more ›

• In an Obvious News of the Week alert: the one child policy here in China is breeding a generation of really, really bratty people. [China Daily]
• Have you realized how much we love Peter Hessler yet? No? Then how about we feature yet another interview with the man about his new book "Country Driving." [Worldhum]
• Even with Google China hiring again, looks like things aren't quite peachy yet between the internet giant and this country - a Nexus One smartphone event that would've gone through Beijing has been scrapped. It'll still continue in Hong Kong and Taiwan. [Reuters]

• China will prosecute 23 people for the CCTV tower that was set aflame last Chinese New Year... someday. Apparently no trial or hearing date has been set yet. [AFP]
• While much of the press about the Winter Olympics has been about Zhou Yang winning China's third gold, 2nd gold winner Wang Meng's disqualification is barely being whispered. [China Sports Today]
• Oxfam is now being blacklisted in China by the Education Ministry for allegedly having a "hidden political agenda." [Washington Post]

While wealthy executives in trend-setting Shanghai would never be seen indulging in something so passe, roller disco is the entertainment of choice for the tens of thousands of migrants working in low-paying jobs in China's most expensive city. more ›