Inside China: Migrant workers and the Alliance of Beijing Drifters
- Millions of migrant workers move to Beijing in search of work, but find themselves homeless and targeted by authorities. Meet the man who's helping them out.
Millions of people seeking work and better incomes have moved from rural areas of China to Beijing to work in what Americans might call the “gig economy”. As with the US gig economy, some have jobs delivering packages for online shopping companies and driving cars for ride-hailing apps – but others work more traditional jobs, as labourers on construction sites or as cashiers in supermarkets. A phrase that emerged from government documents referred to these people as “di duan ren kou”, or “the low-end population”, until a public outcry over dehumanising language led to it being banned on social media.
Still, in the past year and a half authorities have made a concentrated effort to evict these people from Beijing. In this podcast you will meet a man who was once part of Beijing’s “low-end population”, but now runs hostels to give these people accommodation as they struggle to achieve their dream of joining the middle class.
