Society

Migrant worker to publish novel based on own life

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-02-01 13:28

FUZHOU: A 450,000-word novel on the lives of Chinese migrant workers has won favor among on-line readers with more than 500,000 page views in four months since it appeared on Internet last October.

The author, Zhou Shuheng, told Xinhua that his novel would be published in printed form in the near future by a publishing company in Beijing.

According to the company, the novel will be the first one written by a migrant worker to describe lives of the group, to which the Chinese literary circle had paid little attention.

"Most plots are based on my real experiences while a few others are from my work mates," the 31-year-old migrant worker said, who left his hometown in Wanyuan county of the southwestern Sichuan province at 16 and has worked for 15 years in the eastern city of Fuzhou, capital of Fujian province.

The novel follows three farmers after they become migrant workers and it vividly reflects the harsh living of the 200 million migrant workers in China.

"Sometimes I was writing while weeping," Zhou said. "I've seen or heard too many sad stories about migrant workers."

A netizen commented on the Zhou's story, "Brother, thank you for your story depicting the hardship of migrant workers. I am also a migrant worker. I have wandered around for ten years and experienced a lot of hardships."

"I didn't expect the popularity. But netizens give me a lot of support. They said on the net that we have same experience and you should continue your writing," Zhou said.

"I write the real life of migrant worker on the bottom of the society. Migrant workers in some films and TV series are too far from reality," he said. "I hope to be kind of a representative."

In the preface, Zhou says that migrant workers devote their youth and hard work to the prosperity of many cities. He wrote the story to make readers be closer to migrant workers and aims to draw more attention and respect for the group.

Li Ting, editor with the Beijing publishing company dubbed New Knowledge, said Zhou's writing was realistic and authentic.

"It is the reason why the on-line version attracted thousands of readers. We'd like to provide a platform for more readers to understand real lives of migrant workers," Li said.

"The novel indicates the current generation of migrant worker is no longer a silent group,"said Hu Rong, professor of Sociology Department of Xiamen University in Xiamen, a coastal city in Fujian.

"Zhou is one of second-generation migrant workers who are better educated and more skilled, living in a society that has been developing rapidly since the 1980s. His writing represents the voice of the new generation," Hu said.