The following article is translated from Xinhua News and describes the effect that the Spring Festival rush is having on urban residents. As hundreds of millions of people flock back home to celebrate the Chinese New Year with their families, urban residents and businesses are faced with “great inconveniences.” The very people who have been holding the fabric of urban society together have left, leaving a major void in all sectors of society and by extension, revealing the importance of migrant workers in Chinese cities everywhere.

After enduring a bumpy 35 hour long-distance journey that departed from Northern China, 65 year-old mother Jin Ming, finally arrived in Nanjing. Her daughter Liu Xiaolu just gave birth there this January. Liu Xiaolu’s nanny was adamant about going home for the Chinese New Year, so Jin Ming was left with no choice but to join her daughter in Nanjing and look after the new-born.

“We paid the nanny a monthly salary of 7000 RMB and even wanted to giver her a bonus of treble that amount (of daily wage) during the seven-day Spring Festival holiday. But despite this, the nanny couldn’t be persuaded to stay. There was no way around it; the only other thing I could do was to call my mother in Shenyang to ask for help,” Liu Xiaolu explained helplessly.

Liu Xiaolu’s nanny comes from Dongzhi in Anhui Province. “To be honest, you’re really good to me. But my parents already called me urging me to come home and spend the New Year with them, so I have to go. I promise that I’ll definitely be back by February 6th,” she told her employers apologetically.

As China’s urbanization rate continues to grow, almost 200 million migrant workers have been gradually moving to the city and deeply integrating into urban life. Despite offering a relatively good life, nobody can stop these labourers from leaving the city once a year to reunite with their relatives.

Now that migrant workers have been going back to their homes well before the Spring Festival holidays, many cities are now faced with major shortages in the service industry. Many positions have not been filled by replacements, and as a result, a large number of urban people are faced with great inconveniences and feel helpless.

Before the Chinese New Year, the biggest job market for migrant workers in Eastern China – Andemen job market, where the average monthly salary for workers has even been increased by about 400 RMB, are now seeing a sharp daily decrease in migrant workers. The walls of the Andemen job market are plastered to the brim with many vacancy notices that say the following: “Drivers urgently required. Education: Junior middle school. 4,200 RMB/month”; “Waiters urgently required. Male & females both accepted. 3000 RMB/month”; “Electricians and plumbers urgently required. All educational levels accepted. 4000 RMB/month”

Lots of companies who face project deadlines are now starting to promise “treble salaries” in the hope of enticing workers to stay behind and not return home for the Spring Festival. However, many companies are not achieving the desired results, despite the lucrative offer. 

Yao Kai is a young lad from Henan who works as a carpenter for a home décor company in Nanjing. “A treble salary means 600 RMB a day. Despite this, 31 out of 36 employees have already left. I’m the 32nd person to ask for leave. My boss can try to persuade me to stay as many times as he wants, but I’d still rather not take the treble salary and return home to celebrate Spring Festival.”

According to Professor Xu Yue from the Institute of Chinese Culture of Nanjing University, a “Spring Festival complex” – in other words, a deep emotional tie to this holiday – is one of the major factors why people are not willing to stay behind for the Spring Festival. As far as the Chinese people are concerned, no other festival can compare with the Spring Festival in terms of importance. Although many traditional Spring Festival customs are starting to die out, the “Spring Festival complex” is something that will always stay deeply rooted in people’s hearts and minds; the annual increase of the Spring Festival rush is proof of this.

Now that more and more people from outside the cities are starting to join the Spring Festival travel rush, cities’ residents are starting to notice that their usual breakfast spot has closed, that it’s taking longer for food to be served at restaurants, that nobody is delivering water anymore, that hourly employees aren’t showing up, that the courier isn’t answering the phone and that there’s nobody there to carry out deliveries anymore. Many sectors are now experiencing “service voids” and as a result, lots of urban residents are encountering many inconveniences to their daily life.

With the absence of migrant workers, many tasks now have to be undertaken by relatives. Nanjing resident Chen Chunyan has just moved into a new home. But the move into her new home didn't just bring her joy, but plenty of hassle too. The boss of the moving company she had previously hired, suddenly called her saying, “I am truly sorry. I’m the only one left in the company. The nine other workers have all left early to go back home for the Spring Festival.” With the situation as it is, Chen’s only other option was to ask relatives for help. After much effort and with great difficulty, she eventually managed to find four helping hands to complete the move.
 

Source: news.xinhuanet.com
 

Related links
Migrant Workers: Separate and Unequal
How China is Becoming a Hotbed for Illegal Foreign Workers
Rich Man, Poor Man: China’s Widening Wealth Gap

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Keywords: migrant workers Spring Festival service void Spring Festival China Labour shortages Spring Festival china