Working Girl

“Going out,” migrant workers use this simple phrase to define their transient lives. “There’s nothing to do at home, so I went out.” This is how the story of going out to work begins. Today, there are 150 million migrant workers in China. In the factory-filled cities of the south, these workers pour their efforts into assembly lines that drive the nation’s export economy. They represent the largest migration in human history, three times the total number of European immigrants to the United States over a century. When the new generation of migrant workers emerged, most believed that migration was a path to a better life. They are younger and better educated than the previous generation, and their motivation for going out is driven more by the pursuit of opportunities in cities than by rural poverty. It is self-respect, not fear, that keeps them in the city. To leave home and stay out—to “go out”—is to change your destiny. When I wanted to write a book about China, the country’s migrant workers captivated me—millions of people leaving their villages to work in cities. It wasn't until later that I realized how deeply connected I was to the girls I wrote about. I, too, had left home and understood the lonely, drifting feeling of living in a place where you know no one; I personally experienced how easily one can disappear. I also better understood the joy and freedom of starting a new life. The stories of working girls share some commonalities. It's easy to lose yourself in a factory, where there are hundreds of girls with similar backgrounds: born in rural areas, little schooling, poor. What the factory produced was never important; what mattered was the hardship or opportunity that job brought. A working girl's turning point is always when she confronts her boss. In that moment, she risks losing everything, stands out from the crowd, and forces the world to see her as an individual. Migrant work has been ongoing in China for over two decades, and most foreign media have reported on the harsh conditions within factories. Many books about Chinese migrant workers are also not accurate. I hope to write something different, to write about how the workers themselves view migrant work. I am especially interested in women. Leaving their hometowns, they gain the most, and perhaps also lose the most.

出版日期/Publication Date：April 1, 2019
出版社/Publisher：上海译文出版社
出品方/Imprint:
页数/Page: 360