Struggling for a Better Life.doc

Struggling for a Better Life
IN recent years it's been thecase that any major event inChina makes big internation-al news. whether good-likeits heartening growth-or bad,such as food contaminationscandals. The world media alsosystematically chases the ex-panding class of nouveau heroes and entertainmentstars in the nation. Yet scant talkis heard of the less exciting sto-ries about China's average loe orJane, how they get by day to daycoping with all the uncertainty,oromise and stress of a societyin flux. To add the missing pieceto the China nuzzle, the NewWorld Press released Real LifeStories of Migrant Workers andUrban Transplants, part of theseries One Hundred ChinesePeople's Dreams. The book is acollection of ten warts-and-allnarrations by selected migrantwod<ers. Thev represent themost vulnerable group in thecountry, clustered far from theirrural hometowns in big subjected to poor workingconditions, late paychecks andintermittent employment.
Each story is told in theteller's own voice:the author'srendering highlighting theiroersonal and individual human-itv. An Dun only supplementstheir narration, confined to ments and backgroundinformation at the conclusion monologue.
Migrant workers accountfor over half the population inmany of China's metropolisessuch as Beijing and a local hukou, or per-manent residency permit, theyare st