Experimental Blog # 142

Quotations and notes from "Eating Bitterness - Stories from the Front Lines of China's Great Urban Migration" by Michelle Dammon Loyalka

"China has lifted a record 230 million people out of poverty. Its nominal GDP{Gross Domestic Product} has increased seventy-five times over{apparently since 1982}"!?
"At any given time, over 200 million such people{rural migrants} leave their families and farms behind and flock to China's urban centers, where they provide a profusion of cheap labor that helps fuel the country's massive city-building process as well as its staggering economic growth."

The eight chapters of this very finely written book focus on eight real people, or families, that the author, Michelle Loyalka, interviews and observes over a considerable period of time, "On average, ... about three weeks with each individual, though that was often spread out over several months."

"...migrants' salaries have risen rapidly in recent years and are now just 300 yuan lower, on average, than a college graduate's starting salary." "Even for well-trained professionals in the High-Tech Zone, a typical salary isn't more than 4,000 yuan a month..." If 200 yuan equals about 30 dollars, 4,000 yuan should equal 600 dollars. However, Michelle Loyalka points out that the college graduates' salaries will significantly rise, and the migrants lack access to affordable housing, education, health care, and other protections.
"The government is not indifferent to these issues, but the enormity and complexity of the task at hand are staggering." 

"Those{rural migrants} who undertake this journey are neither able to completely abandon their rural lifestyles nor are they able to fully join the urban ranks; they belong neither to the nation's traditional past nor to its modernized future." "...they remain largely in limbo, stuck somewhere between their point of origin and their intended destination."!!?