'Workers' voice' to publish his tale
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A bespectacled 31-year-old man from Sichuan province has been dubbed the voice of 200 million migrant workers after writing about his life in a popular online blog.
Zhou Shuheng, whose story will now be published into a book, tells of how he left his home at 16 and began life as a migrant worker in Fujian province.
A Beijing-based publishing house decided to publish the book, titled Chinese-style Migrant Worker, because it told the story of a migrant worker, from a migrant worker's perspective, for the first time.
More than 500,000 netizens have read his online blog, and have dubbed him the "spokesman for about 200 million Chinese migrant workers".
Zhou said that he began writing in May 2008 when he again found himself unemployed. He brought a second-hand computer with his savings and wrote about his life at night.
During the daytime, Zhou said he worked as a salesman so he had enough money for food and for his 300 yuan monthly rent.
"Chinese migrant workers don't have our own books, and I hope my endeavor could attract more social concern about us," he told Guangzhou Daily newspaper.
"About 80 percent of material in the book is based on my personal experience or the stories of other migrant workers around me. I can't help crying when I recall some details."
In one translated passage in the book, Zhou describes a mother with her young children: "The mother was collecting garbage at a construction site. A child walked hand in hand with her, and a younger one lay on her back."
Zhou said he was born into a poor family and he left middle school after his mother died in an accident.
"I used to be attracted to migrant workers' lives, as their image and attire became fashionable when they returned to my hometown," he said.
However, the reality was much tougher for Zhou as he struggled to survive on 20 yuan ($3) a month for work in a plastic products factory.
"I could not breathe in the smelly factory! I should get 100 yuan a month, but the factory told me I owed them 80 yuan according to the ridiculous payroll," he said.
He frequently changed jobs and learned to use a computer during a stint as a salesman.
Zhou hopes income from the book will lead to a more secure life.
"I could use the income from a book to repair a house in the countryside. I feel unsafe without a home in which to settle down."
