AT SIXTY, Zhang Chaoshou has only distant memories of his young life in the countryside. He has been working in and around the centre of Chongqing, a province-sized municipality in south-western China, for more than 30 years. As he shovels cement under a fierce sun, he says he will keep working as long as he is able. “Can’t retire,” he says. Like millions of others his age, he cannot afford it. His state pension is just 93 yuan ($15) a month.
Most of the low-skilled workers who for three decades have powered China’s economy are people like Mr Zhang who were born in the countryside and moved to urban areas. They are often called mingong, or peasant workers, even though they have little if any experience of farming; or else, less disparagingly but just as misleadingly, “migrant” workers, though older ones like Mr Zhang may have moved to the cities many years ago and younger ones may have been city-born, to migrant parents.
Under China’s household-registration system, known as hukou, rural connections, even if inherited, determine the kind of welfare benefits individuals may receive....Continue reading
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