Migrant Laborers of Beijing

"Beijingers think we pollute their air and that our baggage takes their space. They always look at us scornfully, but our work alone is great. Without us, they couldn't live in their new houses...We have the same ideals in our childhood as people in Beijing, but we are not able to choose how to live. We have no money or education so Beijing can’t be our home."

- Guo Tao, a Beijing migrant worker
China Daily, Sept. 9, 2003

Beijing's rapid urbanization is largely attributed to the work and efforts of the migrant workers who moved from the countryside into the city in attempt to find higher-paying wages. Approximately one million migrant workers comprises 90% of the construction worker population in Beijing, of which most of the recent workforce was directed towards the construction of the Beijing Olympics.
Such migrant laborers face considerable barriers to social acceptance. Given already the status of their hukou, which is immediately a stigma of social inferiority, migrant workers are barred from government-provided welfare such as medical care and public education. Work contracts are often not legally written out but instead are orally established, often leading to difficulties when it comes to payday or work-related medical coverage.