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From the Ground Up
Photographer Iwan Baan focuses his camera on the people who are building the new Beijing.
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Migrant workers represent nearly one quarter of Beijing’s population, and 95 percent of them are men. Women and children usually stay in their hometowns and villages, because they can’t change their hukou (residency papers), and schools won’t accept pupils from outside areas. Men flock to the city, responding to high demand for manual labor and contractors’ pressing deadlines. Most construction workers are farmers and usually go back to their villages during harvest season, often creating labor shortages in cities at these times. In the city, the workers live together in temporary dormitories on construction sites, or crowed together in shared housing complexes. They earn 500 to 1,000 yuan a month ($72 to $144)—about half the average wage in China’s urban areas. Click on the slideshow on the left to view Iwan Baan’s photo essay focusing on Beijing’s migrant workforce.
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