2024 RT Amination Banner.gif

China Daily

//www.chinadailyhk.com/public_resource/public/css/style.css {"dm":"https://www.chinadailyhk.com","httpDomain":"https://www.chinadailyhk.com","hr":"/","httpRoot":"/","smr":"/cndy_asia/WEB/","subMediaRoot":"/cndy_asia/WEB/","trr":"/public_resource/templates/","templatesResRoot":"/public_resource/templates/","srr":"/public_resource/subjects/","subjectsResRoot":"/public_resource/subjects/","pr":"//www.chinadailyhk.com/public_resource/public","publicRoot":"//www.chinadailyhk.com/public_resource/public","subMediaLocalPath":"/data/files/mcpp/publish/cndy_asia/WEB/","other":{"baidu_map_apikey":"T0IxOVsyHiwtTfZRxdyzNH5C","txyun_apikey":"1252065688"}}
Focus> In-Depth China> Content
Tuesday, October 16, 2018, 12:28
Returning workers succeed at home
By Li Lei, Shi Baoyin and Qi Xin in Lankao, Henan
Tuesday, October 16, 2018, 12:28 By Li Lei, Shi Baoyin and Qi Xin in Lankao, Henan

Former migrant workers sort sunflower seeds at a Wunong Hao food-processing plant in Lankao, Henan province. (QI XIN / CHINA DAILY)

Sixteen years ago, leaving his home village of Sanyizhai in Central China's Henan province for coastal cities was the only way Sun Ming could realize his dream - to earn enough money to build a two-story house back home, where he could get married and support his agricultural family. But it is no longer the only way.

"The monthly salary in Lankao at the turn of the century was around 150 yuan (US$21), whereas workers in coastal factories could earn 10 times as much," said the 32-year-old, who now runs a plant nursery in Sanyizhai, in the west of Lankao county.

Local officials in Lankao estimate that local incomes have been increasing at an annual rate of about 12 percent over the last few years

"The net revenue from my nursery last year alone reached 200,000 yuan," he laughed, adding it was just the amount needed to build a two-story house.

Sun is among some 30,000 migrant workers from Lankao who have returned home over the last decade, with enough skills and capital accumulated over the years to start lucrative businesses at their doorsteps, according to the county's human resources and social security bureau.

The returning tide of talent and capital created 96,000 local jobs, giving people more job alternatives within the county, the bureau said.

Leave for a better life

China's reform and opening-up, which began in 1978, has triggered rapid urbanization in coastal regions and, as a result, massive numbers of farmers from impoverished Central and West China have flowed southeast to feed the hunger for construction workers there.

With a population of almost 100 million, Henan has since become a major exporter of labor. The draining away of younger workers seriously impacted a number of impoverished counties, such as Lankao, that remained on the national list of poverty-stricken counties until last year.

In 2002, Sun finished middle school at age 16, and going to high school was a luxury he could not afford. He first tried his luck in an electronics factory and then a cotton mill in the southern city of Guangzhou, Guangdong province, and later worked for a flower wholesale market in Shanghai, where he married and had a son.

"I could earn up to 20,000 yuan a month when I worked extra hours on weekends, but the cost of a thrifty life was high as well," he said.

Despite higher salaries in the cities, many migrant workers find it hard to blend into urban society. The strict hukou, or household registration system, has increased the cost of being an outsider in cities by limiting access to schooling and healthcare. And the inadequate protection of their labor rights has left them prone to poor working conditions and payment defaults.

The 2008 financial crisis also dealt a heavy blow to coastal factories, and an estimated 3 million migrant workers from Henan were forced back to their hometowns.

Though Sun didn't return home immediately, he was impressed with the changes in his hometown every time he came back for the Spring Festival holiday.

The new high-speed railway station, the increasingly mature road network and the growing demand for ornamental plants for street decoration appealed to him.

Talent returns

In 2016, Sun decided to move back with the 600,000 yuan he had saved, along with his knowledge about flower nurseries and the market. He was also able to get an interest-free loan of 300,000 yuan from the local government - an amount that would be hard to get from commercial banks.

"Running my own business is much more energy consuming than working for others, but I have great expectations for the future," he said.

Zhu Huasheng, a professor of economic geography at Beijing Normal University, said the number of returnees began to increase in 2000, and the central government had called for policy support for the trend for six consecutive years in its "No 1 central document" - the outline of policy priorities for the year - starting from 2007.

"Coastal regions now aspire for industrial upgrading and therefore have higher requirements for their labor force," he said. "In the meantime, their hometowns have gotten increasingly attractive, with more job opportunities and lower living costs."

Local officials in Lankao estimate that local incomes have been increasing at an annual rate of about 12 percent over the last few years, and companies including Foxconn and Evergrande Group have set up a number of factories in the county.

In addition to the rising number of well-paid local jobs, Shi Tianyou, director of the county's human resources and social security bureau, said improved infrastructure has also helped boost local business opportunities.

Shi hailed the influx of talent like Sun, saying he knows too well the social problems left by the exodus of young people.

"The elderly and the toddlers were left behind to take care of one another," he said. "The absence of a working population posed a great challenge to local urbanization and rural revitalization."

Targeting poverty

China has pledged to eradicate poverty domestically by the end of 2020. The five-year period since 2012 has seen two-thirds of the country's impoverished population lifted out of their situation. But there are still some 30 million Chinese living in dire poverty - most of them scattered across the country's vast rural areas.

Last year, the central leadership put forward a rural revitalization strategy at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Early this year, the central government again prioritized rural affairs in its "No 1 central document" for the year.

Zhu, the economic geography professor, said the influx of farmer entrepreneurs is helping accelerate urbanization in Lankao, and contributing to the division of labor between urban and rural areas. "In addition to creating local jobs, the returnees bring back new ideas and business models, which instill life into the local economy," he said.

To facilitate the trend, the Lankao government has lowered the threshold for loans for those who start local businesses, and it organizes regular entrepreneurial tutorials where the returnees can share experiences and information.

According to the local human resources and social security bureau, some 1,500 loans amounting to 170 million yuan were handed out to startups last year, benefiting some 6,800 returnees who created another 21,000 local jobs.

Shi, head of the bureau, said his office also works with experts to develop business projects suitable for migrant workers that are tailored to local resource advantages.

Zhu said government should avoid levying too many taxes as startups grow bigger. "I know cases where startups are first given loads of favorable policies, but as they grow, they become the target of local tax authorities," he said.

The professor also said less-developed regions in Central and West China should strengthen institutional reform and reduce administrative costs to attract industries and migrant workers back from the east.

Share this story

CHINA DAILY
HONG KONG NEWS
OPEN
Please click in the upper right corner to open it in your browser !