Word: migrant
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...Zang Lifang is hardly alone. Guangdong authorities say that more than 12 million of the province's 30 million migrant workers were forced to stay in the cities where they work because of the transportation chaos caused by some of the worst storms in a century. Last month, heavy snow and ice blocked major highways, toppled power lines, and hobbled rail traffic, leaving more than half a million homeward-bound migrants stranded outside the Guangzhou train station...
During his visit to the Guangzhou train station last week, Wen told the travelers that they "eat bitterness" - a Chinese expression for enduring hardship. That may be true even when they're not stranded by the snow. It has been the willingness of millions of migrant workers to suffer grueling hours at low pay that has turned this nation into an economic power. Lately, authorities have begun to realize they cannot take such sacrifice for granted. "Only in the last couple of years, as labor prices have begun to rise, have local authorities in Guangdong paid more attention to migrant...
...particularly bad time. Every year, in what is often called the world's largest annual migration, an estimated 180 million mainlanders go on holiday or travel home to be with their families to celebrate the Spring Festival, also known as Chinese New Year. Millions of these travelers are migrant workers - the real dynamo driving China's economic boom - who leave behind their jobs in factories and construction sites across the country for one of the few vacations many are allowed to take. But this year is different. Bad weather is making travel impossible; millions have been stranded on their journeys...
...With tens of millions still on the road and forecasts predicting more bad weather, Wen may have committed the political sin of overpromising. But one political sin can often be expunged by another: deflecting the blame. A news clip airing on state television features an interview with a young migrant worker who insists loudly - and to the beaming approval of the collected cadres - that the crisis is "a natural disaster, not caused by administrative or leadership problems." True enough, but in a country where the public is constantly reminded of the omnipotence of the central government, some citizens...
...professionals from a completely different culture to you, really nice people to work with, but with whom you don't feel any emotional connection. You have to constantly turn inward, and your circle becomes smaller and smaller." Navigating the gap between a European workplace and the expectations of a migrant community can be intensely stressful, says Fuad Nahdi, a commentator and consultant on Muslim issues to Blair's government: "In terms of alienation, nothing succeeds like success." For Muslims who have made it, the loneliness of the corner office can be a cold contrast to the camaraderie of the mosque...