Migrant worker to publish popular on-line novel based on his own life

Clicks on the 450,000 word novel "Chinese Migrant Workers" have surpassed 500,000, and the first and second parts of the book will be published next month.

In the past ten months, a novel of 450,000 words, titled Chinese Migrant Workers, which was posted on the Internet, has been clicked on more than 500,000 times. It's claimed that the book offers a vivid picture of the 200 million destitute but stubborn migrant workers leaving the countryside. The screen name of the author is "Dankanhongcheng," who turns out to be Zhou Shuheng, a migrant worker from Huangzhong Village, Wanyuan, Sichuan Province.

At the end of last year, a publishing house decided to publish the book, which would be the first novel to fully depict the life of migrant workers in China.

Cover of the book "Chinese Migrant Workers"

Zhou Shuheng and his daughter

Chinese Migrant Workers

The novel follows three farmers (Zhou Xiaofan, Xiao lin and Zhang Zhiwei) as they become migrant workers and it reflects the harsh living conditions that migrant workers endure as well as the lack of identification and the sense of belonging from which workers often suffer.

In one scene in the book, Zhou Xiaofan was beaten severely by security guard when he helped his colleague get his salary of more than 2000 yuan. According to Zhou Shuheng, the entire plot of the book was based on his own story and "for migrant workers, they feel the most upset when they cannot get the money they deserve."