By Paul Chung
For just 500 yuan (about $80) a month, migrant worker families can rent an old shipping container in Guijing village, tucked away somewhere in Pudong New District in the outskirts of urban Shanghai.
There are a total of 18 shipping container homes and ten residents (including the landlord and three children) in this so-called “shipping container village.”
Migrant workers, “credited” for the rapid development of China’s major cities, are subject to some of the poorest living conditions in the very cities that they helped create. This particular informal shantytown reveals how the lack of a Shanghai hukou (and money) can present significant day-to-day challenges to migrant workers.
