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Voices from modern China

Li Chunhai 40, worked at a steel factory in Anshan, Liaoning province, before he was made redundant as part of the government’s reform of state-owned enterprises. He lives in a tiny one-room flat with his wife and daughter.

"I was laid off in 1998 from Angang Steel Works. Basically, when I went on holiday at the end of 1997, it ended up not being a holiday - I had been laid off.

The central government gave money to our local leaders to pay us compensation, but they spent it all themselves.

For the first year or so I got 140 yuan ($17) a month, but it was barely enough to support my family.

I haven’t seen a penny since then. I don’t even bother asking anymore. All the bosses at the factory have spent it, nobody cares.

Scratching out a living

Now I go to the labour market to look for work every day to make money to live.

If there’s any work to be done, like construction work or carrying things as a coolie, the bosses hire us for the day. I make about 20 or 30 yuan ($2-4) for a day.

If I don’t make money, I don’t spend money. I make just over 2,000 yuan ($243) a year.

I have to pay rent, water, electricity. Before I was laid off all of this was paid by the factory. I used to have health insurance when I worked at the factory, but now I have nothing.

Health worries

It’s incredibly difficult, running out every day to find whatever work I can get, hoping to earn enough.

We would like to have a better place to live, but we can’t find anything we can afford.

I worked at the factory for 16 years and now I have nothing.

I haven’t had any big illnesses, but I have very bad arthritis in my hand. It’s terrible. I don’t have money to go to the doctor, I can’t afford it.

Education worries

There’s no money to send my parents to the doctor either when they are ill. They are retired and don’t have any way of looking after themselves - they don’t have any money either.

My daughter is 10. Now I have to come up with the money for her schooling myself. And if she makes it to university, I will have to borrow the money to pay for it. I will have to come up with more than 10,000 yuan ($1,214).

Our work unit was making such a big loss so there wasn’t any money. So who should I go to for money? But there’s no point in being angry, being angry doesn’t help anything.

Basically, we spend as little as we can. And it’s just not the same as before, there’s no stable income.

Marriage strain

There’s incredible pressure on my family life. But there’s nothing else for me to do.

My wife wants a divorce, she wants to leave me and take the child with her, and I feel terrible about it. She has a job, she makes a little money.

I try not to think about it too much. If the family splits up I’ll just be living on my own looking after myself.

The rent we pay right now is quite expensive, I wouldn’t be able to stay here on my own. I’d have to find a smaller room for me.

It’s incredibly difficult, we don’t have anything, and if we need anything we have to spend money."

"Our local leaders were given money to pay us compensation, but they spent it all themselves"


Unemployed workers in Beijing

"There’s no point in being angry, being angry doesn’t help anything"


"My wife wants to leave me and take the child with her"

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