A day-in-the-life of a migrant worker in Beijing: simple, tiring yet content

A day-in-the-life of a migrant worker in Beijing

Lao Nie, 40 years old, from Shanxi Province, is an ordinary migrant worker in Beijing. I got to know him by chance. His kindness, honesty and frankness impressed me so much that I became interested in him and wanted to know more about him. I decided to record a complete day-in-the-life with Lao Nie, telling you his story and hoping to reflect the real living situation of today’s migrant workers. If there is any other purpose beyond that, it is to provide something new other than the sex, violence and vulgar culture flooding the Internet. Lao Nie’s story may shock us into realizing that we are becoming more and more insensitive, forcing us to review and reconsider our own lives.

A day-in-the-life of a migrant worker in Beijing

At 6:30 in the early morning, holding some vegetables bought from the market, Lao Nie came back home to make breakfast. He has been doing odd jobs in Beijing for eight years. He had worked as a stevedore, a builder, a street vendor, a cleaner and a milk delivery-man. At present, he is working as a courier in a private courier company. Every day, he gets up at 6:00 am, and then goes to a nearby market to buy vegetables because the stuff in the market is both fresh and cheap, he said.

A day-in-the-life of a migrant worker in Beijing

Lao Nie lives in a basement room in a neighborhood near the North Fourth Ring Road. This temporary home is very close to the place where he works. It only takes him ten minutes to get there on foot. The rent is 400 yuan per month. He has moved a total of 5 times since he has been in Beijing.