论文部分内容阅读
On February 1， the Fourth Migrant Workers’ Spring Festival Gala was held and recorded at the Nine Theater in Beijing’s Chaoyang District. The gala hosted performances by some 100 factory workers from Beijing， Guangdong， Jiangsu and Taiwan. The more than 30 children who participated in the show were all offspring of migrant workers.
The gala was originally scheduled to run for three hours， but took over four hours to finish， as the amateur actors involved lacked experience in performing. However， their performances won thunderous applause from the audience. When the final performance—the yearly staged choral piece A Hymn to Laborers—started， the audience stood up and sang along in solidarity with the actors on stage.
“The gala aims to review developments in the workers’ community over the past year and reproduce their real-life experiences，” said director Xu Duo.
Last year’s gala received over 10 million views when aired online. This year， the event is expected to garner even greater attention.
An unconventional gala
Spring Festival galas are a uniquely Chinese tradition. Every year many TV channels present their own festivities， featuring guest appearances by famous stars. The gala broadcast live by China Central Television （CCTV） shown on the eve of the Lunar New Year， which fell on February 19 this year， has been the most popular among Chinese audiences over the past 30 years or so.
Unlike its televised counterparts， the gala for migrant workers， initiated in 2012， showcases performances not by stars but by ordinary workers.
Take this year’s gala for example. It consists of 21 performances， which encompasses the forms of singing， dancing， crosstalk， comedy skits and poetry recitation. All but two of the shows were performed by migrant workers and their children， in addition to the staff of NGOs committed to protecting workers’ rights.
During this year’s gala， 45-year-old Zhou Xianshou sang a song written and composed by himself， which expressed the affection he feels for his family members while living away from home. Zhou， who comes from central China’s Henan Province， went to work in Suzhou， east China’s Jiangsu Province， as a motorbike mechanic in 2000. He has learned to play the guitar and sing in his spare time and often takes part in local singing contests.
The host of the gala， Cui Yongyuan， is a renowned TV host in China. He has hosted the show every year since its inception and his fame has helped popularize the event. The other two female co-hosts， Wang Fuju and Ding Li， both work with NGOs devoted to the protection of workers’ rights in south China. They had been selected through an online audition， and their experience of having been migrant workers before assuming their current jobs had earned them extra credibility. Cui’s refined skills in hosting allowed him to expertly work the audience. During the show， he constantly called for efforts to be made to recognize migrant workers’ rights. However， compared with their more experienced colleague， Wang and Ding seemed to be a little nervous. Ding’s legs were constantly trembling at the beginning of the show. However， she gradually calmed down and was inspired by a recitation of a piece of poetry titled Beijing， I Have Come， which addresses the sense of insecurity migrant children sometimes feel in their adopted cities.
China’s remarkable economic and social progress since the reform and opening-up campaign was launched in the late 1970s may not have been possible without the huge number of low-cost laborers who relocated to cities to work. However， this cohort has long received unfair treatment， represented by the highly intensive nature of their work， low wages and lack of basic social security guarantees. In 2010， 14 workers at the Shenzhen facility of the Taiwan-based contract manufacturing giant Foxconn， which makes iPhone and iPad among other products， committed suicide by jumping off buildings. The deadly incidents thrust the protection of Chinese workers’rights into the spotlight.
The Factory Star Band from Shenzhen， south China’s Guangdong Province， performed the song Working Eight Hours during this year’s gala. Zhang Feng， the drummer of the band， left his hometown in central China’s Hubei Province in 2012. He worked at the Shenzhen Foxconn factory for two years.
Zhang told Beijing Review that working extra hours used to represent a boon for him while working for Foxconn， because only in this way could he earn more.
Talking about the suicide of workers in Foxconn， Zhang said， “The workers there lead a dull life. They have nowhere to turn to for help when they face heavy work-related pressures.”
After leaving Foxconn， Zhang went on to teach migrant workers to play the guitar and drums at a free training school， where he started to learn about workers’ rights protection.
“It’s vitally important to alleviate the psychological pressures imposed on workers by encouraging them to take part in social and cultural activities，” he added.
Humble beginnings
The First Migrant Workers’ Spring Festival Gala was held in Picun Village， 30 km east of downtown Beijing， in January 2012. A temporary makeshift theater was built by migrant workers living there. It was ramshackle and lacked even the most rudimentary of heating systems. In the cold winter of Beijing， an audience numbering a little over 100 watched the show while stamping their feet against the floor to keep warm. A recording of the show posted online was viewed nearly 500，000 times within a mere 10 days. Owing to the widespread attention the first show had received， the galas that have followed have gained the support of departments such as the Cultural Center of Chaoyang District， Beijing Trade Union and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions. For example， the venue of this year’s show， the Nine Theater， belongs to the Cultural Center of Chaoyang District， which also provided some props free of charge.
In spite of support from various organizations， Xu had to stretch the budget and minimize costs， by taking measures such as soliciting volunteers to do makeup. The show’s budget ran to a mere 100，000 yuan （$15，990）， with 70，000 yuan （$11，193） coming from online donations and 30，000 yuan （$4，797） being sourced from social foundations. The majority of the money had been spent on traffic， food and accommodation for actors and actresses.
Although the costs were small， the gala still meant a great deal to Xu personally.
Xu had been engaged in preparing for this year’s gala since last September. Aside from being the show’s director， Xu wrote and performed a comedy sketch titled Unity Is Strength， which tells the story of how some 200 sanitation workers in Guangzhou， Guangdong Province， staged a strike last August when their employer illegally terminated their work contracts.
With his long and slightly unkempt hair， Xu looks different from the typical worker. He is in fact a social worker with the Beijing Migrant Workers’ Home， an NGO co-established by Xu and two other migrant workers with the aim of enriching the cultural life of migrant workers and protecting their rights.
Harboring the dream of becoming a singer， Xu came to Beijing from Haining， east China’s Zhejiang Province， in 1999. He started from singing at the underpasses of the city to passers-by who would casually drop him money. In 2002， Xu met Wang Dezhi and Sun Heng， both of whom were fellow art lovers.
The latter two had both been drawn to China’s capital city in pursuit of their artistic dreams. In 1995， 18-year-old Wang Dezhi took a train to Beijing from north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region with 700 yuan（$112） stolen from his family. He had dreamed of performing crosstalk at the CCTV Spring Festival Gala， but little did he know that 20 years later， he would find himself presenting a selfpenned crosstalk show at a very different kind of gala.
Sun used to be a music teacher in Henan Province. Discontent with the methods of teaching he was at the time required to adopt， he came to Beijing with a guitar in 1998. The three began putting on performances together. At one time they went to a construction site to play a show for workers. The experience prompted them to decide to write and sing songs exclusively for migrant workers.
The three founded the Migrant Workers’Art Troupe， later renamed the New Workers’Art Troupe， and the Beijing Migrant Workers’Home in 2002， with the purpose of publicizing the plight of migrant workers through songs and helping safeguard the aforementioned group’s rights.
The three relocated to Picun in 2005， and started an experiment that was to change the lives of the migrant workers there forever.
Social experimentation
Picun is an intersection between Beijing city proper and some of its surrounding rural areas， which is predominantly inhabited by workers in low-end industries.
At present， there are around 20，000 people residing in the village， most of whom are migrant workers employed in the area’s furniture-manufacturing factories. Except for a commercial street， most of the village is made up of two-story brick buildings where workers speaking different dialects live.
When they first came to the village in 2005， Xu and his friends rented a former public primary school with the royalties from their first music album and transformed it into the Tongxin Experimental Primary School for migrant workers’ children. They then established a cultural center for migrant workers， which comprises a library， a museum， a supermarket and a theater.
Every evening， young workers gather at the center. They can either read books at the library or purchase donated secondhand clothes at the supermarket. During weekends and holidays， the Beijing Migrant Workers’Home organizes all kinds of cultural activities. Every year， a New Workers’ Art Festival is held， during which the workers gather together to sing songs written by one another. Singing is the most popular art form among the workers. Every Saturday， Li Xiangyang， a member of staff at the Workers’ Home， leads workers in a singsong held at the theater.
Li， 31， put on several performances during this year’s gala. He has been working at the Beijing Migrant Workers’ Home for over two years now. Li came to Beijing in 2007 after graduating from high school in Baiyin， northwest China’s Gansu Province. He has worked as a security guard， a waiter， a delivery courier and a factory worker. However， he said none of those were what he really wanted to do. It was only when he acquired his current job that he started to feel happy. Like Li， 28-year-old Wang Bo also works at the Beijing Migrant Workers’ Home. Since graduating from college in 2012， he has worked at 10 NGOs all over China specializing in different fields. He has chosen to settle down here and become a teacher at the Tongxin Experimental Primary School， teaching civics and physical education courses.
“I am a migrant worker myself. I’m not here to save migrant workers， but instead to work with them to find solutions to the problems we encounter in our lives，” said Wang Bo.
In addition to organizing cultural activities， the Beijing Migrant Workers’ Home also helps migrant workers defend their rights by offering legal assistance or holding consultations.
Zhang and other members of his band from Shenzhen visited the cultural center of Picun Village. All of them liked it.
“Where else can one find a karaoke venue exclusively open to migrant workers？”said Zhang. He added that near the Foxconn factory in Shenzhen， there were many miniature karaoke boxes shaped like phone booths. One could go into a booth and put a one-yuan （$0.16） coin into a machine in order to sing a song. These karaoke boxes were highly popular among workers， reflecting their thirst for entertainment activities.
“However， I don’t like such forms of entertainment because no communication and no interaction are involved，” Zhang said.
What is going on in Picun， by contrast， is an attempt to enable migrant workers to find enjoyment by involving them in a variety of cultural activities. The gala， in particular， “allows workers to have a glimpse of hope amid their hard lives，” said Wang Dezhi， director of the event in the previous three years.
“Migrant workers are the most vibrant， creative and promising group in China. I hope students of my school can go to Picun and take away a lesson from the experience，” said Liu Chen， an associate professor with the School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China after watching this year’s gala. The school offers on-the-job training to government officials across China.
Bu Wei， a research fellow with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences who has conducted research into the Picun experiment， said，“Participating in cultural activities will help newgeneration migrant workers and their children gradually begin to identify as urban residents.”
The Chinese Government is increasingly recognizing the importance of cultural activities for migrant workers. Vice Minister of Culture Yang Zhijin vowed at a press conference on January 21 to bolster investment in the arts for migrant workers， to assimilate them into the cultural service systems existent in many cities and to make them feel at home in urban areas through cultural activities.
Bu suggested that in addition to directly hosting cultural events for migrant workers， the government should purchase cultural services provided by NGOs such as the Beijing Migrant Workers’ Home.
The gala was originally scheduled to run for three hours， but took over four hours to finish， as the amateur actors involved lacked experience in performing. However， their performances won thunderous applause from the audience. When the final performance—the yearly staged choral piece A Hymn to Laborers—started， the audience stood up and sang along in solidarity with the actors on stage.
“The gala aims to review developments in the workers’ community over the past year and reproduce their real-life experiences，” said director Xu Duo.
Last year’s gala received over 10 million views when aired online. This year， the event is expected to garner even greater attention.
An unconventional gala
Spring Festival galas are a uniquely Chinese tradition. Every year many TV channels present their own festivities， featuring guest appearances by famous stars. The gala broadcast live by China Central Television （CCTV） shown on the eve of the Lunar New Year， which fell on February 19 this year， has been the most popular among Chinese audiences over the past 30 years or so.
Unlike its televised counterparts， the gala for migrant workers， initiated in 2012， showcases performances not by stars but by ordinary workers.
Take this year’s gala for example. It consists of 21 performances， which encompasses the forms of singing， dancing， crosstalk， comedy skits and poetry recitation. All but two of the shows were performed by migrant workers and their children， in addition to the staff of NGOs committed to protecting workers’ rights.
During this year’s gala， 45-year-old Zhou Xianshou sang a song written and composed by himself， which expressed the affection he feels for his family members while living away from home. Zhou， who comes from central China’s Henan Province， went to work in Suzhou， east China’s Jiangsu Province， as a motorbike mechanic in 2000. He has learned to play the guitar and sing in his spare time and often takes part in local singing contests.
The host of the gala， Cui Yongyuan， is a renowned TV host in China. He has hosted the show every year since its inception and his fame has helped popularize the event. The other two female co-hosts， Wang Fuju and Ding Li， both work with NGOs devoted to the protection of workers’ rights in south China. They had been selected through an online audition， and their experience of having been migrant workers before assuming their current jobs had earned them extra credibility. Cui’s refined skills in hosting allowed him to expertly work the audience. During the show， he constantly called for efforts to be made to recognize migrant workers’ rights. However， compared with their more experienced colleague， Wang and Ding seemed to be a little nervous. Ding’s legs were constantly trembling at the beginning of the show. However， she gradually calmed down and was inspired by a recitation of a piece of poetry titled Beijing， I Have Come， which addresses the sense of insecurity migrant children sometimes feel in their adopted cities.
China’s remarkable economic and social progress since the reform and opening-up campaign was launched in the late 1970s may not have been possible without the huge number of low-cost laborers who relocated to cities to work. However， this cohort has long received unfair treatment， represented by the highly intensive nature of their work， low wages and lack of basic social security guarantees. In 2010， 14 workers at the Shenzhen facility of the Taiwan-based contract manufacturing giant Foxconn， which makes iPhone and iPad among other products， committed suicide by jumping off buildings. The deadly incidents thrust the protection of Chinese workers’rights into the spotlight.
The Factory Star Band from Shenzhen， south China’s Guangdong Province， performed the song Working Eight Hours during this year’s gala. Zhang Feng， the drummer of the band， left his hometown in central China’s Hubei Province in 2012. He worked at the Shenzhen Foxconn factory for two years.
Zhang told Beijing Review that working extra hours used to represent a boon for him while working for Foxconn， because only in this way could he earn more.
Talking about the suicide of workers in Foxconn， Zhang said， “The workers there lead a dull life. They have nowhere to turn to for help when they face heavy work-related pressures.”
After leaving Foxconn， Zhang went on to teach migrant workers to play the guitar and drums at a free training school， where he started to learn about workers’ rights protection.
“It’s vitally important to alleviate the psychological pressures imposed on workers by encouraging them to take part in social and cultural activities，” he added.
Humble beginnings
The First Migrant Workers’ Spring Festival Gala was held in Picun Village， 30 km east of downtown Beijing， in January 2012. A temporary makeshift theater was built by migrant workers living there. It was ramshackle and lacked even the most rudimentary of heating systems. In the cold winter of Beijing， an audience numbering a little over 100 watched the show while stamping their feet against the floor to keep warm. A recording of the show posted online was viewed nearly 500，000 times within a mere 10 days. Owing to the widespread attention the first show had received， the galas that have followed have gained the support of departments such as the Cultural Center of Chaoyang District， Beijing Trade Union and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions. For example， the venue of this year’s show， the Nine Theater， belongs to the Cultural Center of Chaoyang District， which also provided some props free of charge.
In spite of support from various organizations， Xu had to stretch the budget and minimize costs， by taking measures such as soliciting volunteers to do makeup. The show’s budget ran to a mere 100，000 yuan （$15，990）， with 70，000 yuan （$11，193） coming from online donations and 30，000 yuan （$4，797） being sourced from social foundations. The majority of the money had been spent on traffic， food and accommodation for actors and actresses.
Although the costs were small， the gala still meant a great deal to Xu personally.
Xu had been engaged in preparing for this year’s gala since last September. Aside from being the show’s director， Xu wrote and performed a comedy sketch titled Unity Is Strength， which tells the story of how some 200 sanitation workers in Guangzhou， Guangdong Province， staged a strike last August when their employer illegally terminated their work contracts.
With his long and slightly unkempt hair， Xu looks different from the typical worker. He is in fact a social worker with the Beijing Migrant Workers’ Home， an NGO co-established by Xu and two other migrant workers with the aim of enriching the cultural life of migrant workers and protecting their rights.
Harboring the dream of becoming a singer， Xu came to Beijing from Haining， east China’s Zhejiang Province， in 1999. He started from singing at the underpasses of the city to passers-by who would casually drop him money. In 2002， Xu met Wang Dezhi and Sun Heng， both of whom were fellow art lovers.
The latter two had both been drawn to China’s capital city in pursuit of their artistic dreams. In 1995， 18-year-old Wang Dezhi took a train to Beijing from north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region with 700 yuan（$112） stolen from his family. He had dreamed of performing crosstalk at the CCTV Spring Festival Gala， but little did he know that 20 years later， he would find himself presenting a selfpenned crosstalk show at a very different kind of gala.
Sun used to be a music teacher in Henan Province. Discontent with the methods of teaching he was at the time required to adopt， he came to Beijing with a guitar in 1998. The three began putting on performances together. At one time they went to a construction site to play a show for workers. The experience prompted them to decide to write and sing songs exclusively for migrant workers.
The three founded the Migrant Workers’Art Troupe， later renamed the New Workers’Art Troupe， and the Beijing Migrant Workers’Home in 2002， with the purpose of publicizing the plight of migrant workers through songs and helping safeguard the aforementioned group’s rights.
The three relocated to Picun in 2005， and started an experiment that was to change the lives of the migrant workers there forever.
Social experimentation
Picun is an intersection between Beijing city proper and some of its surrounding rural areas， which is predominantly inhabited by workers in low-end industries.
At present， there are around 20，000 people residing in the village， most of whom are migrant workers employed in the area’s furniture-manufacturing factories. Except for a commercial street， most of the village is made up of two-story brick buildings where workers speaking different dialects live.
When they first came to the village in 2005， Xu and his friends rented a former public primary school with the royalties from their first music album and transformed it into the Tongxin Experimental Primary School for migrant workers’ children. They then established a cultural center for migrant workers， which comprises a library， a museum， a supermarket and a theater.
Every evening， young workers gather at the center. They can either read books at the library or purchase donated secondhand clothes at the supermarket. During weekends and holidays， the Beijing Migrant Workers’Home organizes all kinds of cultural activities. Every year， a New Workers’ Art Festival is held， during which the workers gather together to sing songs written by one another. Singing is the most popular art form among the workers. Every Saturday， Li Xiangyang， a member of staff at the Workers’ Home， leads workers in a singsong held at the theater.
Li， 31， put on several performances during this year’s gala. He has been working at the Beijing Migrant Workers’ Home for over two years now. Li came to Beijing in 2007 after graduating from high school in Baiyin， northwest China’s Gansu Province. He has worked as a security guard， a waiter， a delivery courier and a factory worker. However， he said none of those were what he really wanted to do. It was only when he acquired his current job that he started to feel happy. Like Li， 28-year-old Wang Bo also works at the Beijing Migrant Workers’ Home. Since graduating from college in 2012， he has worked at 10 NGOs all over China specializing in different fields. He has chosen to settle down here and become a teacher at the Tongxin Experimental Primary School， teaching civics and physical education courses.
“I am a migrant worker myself. I’m not here to save migrant workers， but instead to work with them to find solutions to the problems we encounter in our lives，” said Wang Bo.
In addition to organizing cultural activities， the Beijing Migrant Workers’ Home also helps migrant workers defend their rights by offering legal assistance or holding consultations.
Zhang and other members of his band from Shenzhen visited the cultural center of Picun Village. All of them liked it.
“Where else can one find a karaoke venue exclusively open to migrant workers？”said Zhang. He added that near the Foxconn factory in Shenzhen， there were many miniature karaoke boxes shaped like phone booths. One could go into a booth and put a one-yuan （$0.16） coin into a machine in order to sing a song. These karaoke boxes were highly popular among workers， reflecting their thirst for entertainment activities.
“However， I don’t like such forms of entertainment because no communication and no interaction are involved，” Zhang said.
What is going on in Picun， by contrast， is an attempt to enable migrant workers to find enjoyment by involving them in a variety of cultural activities. The gala， in particular， “allows workers to have a glimpse of hope amid their hard lives，” said Wang Dezhi， director of the event in the previous three years.
“Migrant workers are the most vibrant， creative and promising group in China. I hope students of my school can go to Picun and take away a lesson from the experience，” said Liu Chen， an associate professor with the School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China after watching this year’s gala. The school offers on-the-job training to government officials across China.
Bu Wei， a research fellow with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences who has conducted research into the Picun experiment， said，“Participating in cultural activities will help newgeneration migrant workers and their children gradually begin to identify as urban residents.”
The Chinese Government is increasingly recognizing the importance of cultural activities for migrant workers. Vice Minister of Culture Yang Zhijin vowed at a press conference on January 21 to bolster investment in the arts for migrant workers， to assimilate them into the cultural service systems existent in many cities and to make them feel at home in urban areas through cultural activities.
Bu suggested that in addition to directly hosting cultural events for migrant workers， the government should purchase cultural services provided by NGOs such as the Beijing Migrant Workers’ Home.