Zhou Shuheng: Migrant Workers, Chinese Style

Zhou Shuheng: Migrant Workers, Chinese Style

Mr. Zhou Shuheng ( ), 31-year-old worker who migrated from poverty-ridden hometown village in Sichuan to work in Fujian province of south China, wrote a book named published in the name of Chinese Migrant Workers , literally meaning Migrant Workers, Chinese Style ).

The book, 450,000 Chinese characters in total, recorded the trials and tribulations of migrant workers at the lowest ladders of Chinese society. Zhou Shuheng, who dropped out of school at the age of 15 due to the death of his mother and went through varying jobs from toxic company workers to unregistered peddlers, had originally dreamt of writting Kungfu stories yet ended up with a strong urge of writing down the pains and hardships of migrant workers he witnessed everyday.

During his long and strenuous process of trying to put these hardships and a sense of dignity into three main characters, he even became one of the few workers with glasses (500 degrees) on his nose.

Zhou s book was first published on a literary website named (meaning: Scents of Reading) with the encouragement of more than ten thousand internet Chinese readers worldwide a day, then bought and published by a Beijing publishing house ( , World Affairs Publishing House) in the spring of 2010.

Now a celebrity frequently interviewed by TV stations and newspapers, Zhou dreams of publishing a little pamphlet on the legal rights of migrant workers for his fellowmen ( so that they know how to protect themselves instead of going home with sickness and bereft interest after helping to build better cities and a strong nation ). He also hopes to work on the regulation of food safety in China. When asked if he d like to be the spokesman for migrant workers, he said, every migrant worker is different and no one can speak for them at all.

information from sina.com.cn, Outlook Oriental etc.

• Tags: chinese migrant workers, zhou shuheng