Life of new-generation migrant workers: embarrassment mingled with expectations

As the Spring Festival holiday comes to a close, 20-year-old Wu Juan began to pack her bags and prepare to return to work.

Wu Juan's home is located in Zhangchengbao Village, Zhaisuo Township, Huining County, Gansu Province, in northwestern China. The mountains of this area are large, the valleys are deep and the climate is dry, and it is one of the poorest areas in China.

Life of new-generation migrant workers: embarrassments mingled with expectations

After graduating from junior high school, Wu attended a technical school. One and a half years ago, she began to work at a company in Shenzhen that specializes in producing LCD displays for mobile phones. Now she dyes her hair and dresses fashionably, and has eschewed any sign of being a rural girl.

"In the city, I cannot feel the same warmth as in my hometown so I returned home to spend the Spring Festival," Wu said after returning to Shenzhen after less than half a month at home, "but I get bored staying in the village. After all, conditions in the city are better and I have gotten used to the life of going to and from work and going shopping in the city, and I have not become accustomed to life at home."

Wu's embarrassment is an embodiment of the situation faced by the new generation of migrant workers who are from many of the poor areas in China: they are not willing to stay in their village but it is hard to buy a house in the city and there are few chances to find a good job in a small town.

In China, the new generation of migrant workers mainly refers to those who were born in the 1980s and 1990s and work in the city. They have become a major part of the millions of migrant workers in China. This year, the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council put forward the concept of "New Generation Migrant Workers" for the first time in the "No. 1 Document."

Unlike their older generation, the young migrant workers attach more importance to technique and most of them have received a certain level of education. More important, most of them view working in the city as their main source of income, on which they depend for survival rather than a supplement to their agricultural income. They urgently hope to settle down in cities and towns.