Unlike their parents who went to cities with蛇skin bags on their shoulders, the new generation of peasant workers "go to cities with rolling suitcases"

by zhoukun103 on 2012-03-02 23:29:15

60477142012-02-24 14:39:00.0[2012・The Happiness I Want] Cultural Loneliness of the New Generation of Migrant Workers: Leisure = Sleeping + Idle Chatting

The new generation of migrant workers, those born in the "80s" and "90s," are the fresh blood flowing through urban areas. However, most of them, like their parents' generation, create the material prosperity of cities with their hard work while enduring the cultural loneliness brought by city life. Working during the day and sleeping at night is a common lifestyle for many rural residents who have moved to the city for work. Compared to the past, the cultural lives of migrant workers have become richer, but there is still a large gap between this and their actual needs. According to surveys, 80% of migrant workers spend their leisure time either "sleeping" or "idly chatting."

Among the new generation of migrant workers, there has emerged a phenomenon of "high demand" for leisure cultural life. However, real-life conditions often dampen their enthusiasm. Some experts point out that time and consumption capacity are only part of the reason for the lack of spiritual and cultural life among migrant workers. The cultural divide between urban and rural areas is the biggest obstacle to the spiritual and cultural life of migrant workers.

Currently, China's total number of migrant workers reaches 242 million. A significant portion of this massive group consists of the "post-80s" and even "post-90s" new generation of migrant workers, who are the fresh blood flowing through urban areas. However, most of them, like their parents' generation, create the material prosperity of cities with their hard work while enduring the cultural loneliness brought by city life. The 17th Plenary Session emphasized the need to quickly integrate migrant workers into the urban public cultural service system, allowing them to generally enjoy free or discounted basic public cultural services. Recently, at the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference's special consultation meeting on "deepening cultural system reform and promoting the development of cultural undertakings and industries," some members called for effectively protecting and ensuring the cultural rights of migrant workers, satisfying the cultural needs of the migrant worker group.

Young people from rural areas who have left their hometowns to work at Foxconn live in bustling factory zones filled with people, yet they feel spiritually "lonely, isolated, and desolate." Heavy work pressure, meager wages, mechanical and monotonous lives, and bleak prospects fill their hearts with troubles and anxieties, tormenting their spirits.

More than seventy percent of the new generation of migrant workers lead monotonous leisure lives, using television to pass the time. More than seventy percent of the new generation of migrant workers consider their leisure life content to be "not very rich" or "very dull." Among these, 79.12% choose to watch TV or sleep after work, while only 17% engage in "leisure-time learning or participate in training," and less than 5% visit libraries, cultural centers, museums, or memorials. Most of the new generation of migrant workers' spiritual and cultural lives focus on simple entertainment activities such as playing cards or surfing the internet, with fewer actively participating in learning-oriented activities.

Enriching the spiritual and cultural lives of the new generation of migrant workers is an urgent task. "The new generation of migrant workers' desire for spiritual and cultural life is stronger than that of the older generation of migrant workers." They differ significantly from the older generation in terms of employment concepts and lifestyle choices.

After entering the city, the traces of rural society in the new generation of migrant workers change; their clothing and appearance are indistinguishable from urban children, and their thoughts and value orientations are more diversified. They have strong individual consciousness, and modern information tools such as television, mobile phones, and the internet have broadened their horizons, raising their demand levels. Their needs have shifted from survival-type to development-type.

The absence of leisure is the most concerning issue—"not relaxing much" and "how to relax." Working during the day and sleeping at night is a common lifestyle for many rural residents who have moved to the city for work. Survey data shows that compared to the past, the cultural lives of migrant workers have become richer, but there is still a large gap between this and their actual needs. According to surveys, 80% of migrant workers spend their leisure time either "sleeping" or "idly chatting."

Besides "sleeping" and "idly chatting," going online and watching TV remain the mainstream activities of the new generation of migrant workers. A large portion of them are in a state of "not relaxing much." If they want to enrich their leisure cultural life, they must face economic and psychological pressures, which pose a hidden pain for the new generation of migrant workers.

Li Hua, from Heze, Shandong Province, works as a security guard at a company in Beijing. At 19 years old, he has been in his position for almost a year. "Apart from surfing the net or watching TV, I go back to my dormitory to sleep." This is Li Hua's entire depiction of his leisure cultural life. "Activities like watching movies or traveling are expensive, and I basically don't want to move. Using the company's computer or phone to surf the web feels good enough; I've never thought about going out shopping." Li Hua said so. His monthly expenses, aside from living costs, are mainly for internet traffic fees.

Like Li Hua, several of his colleagues are roughly the same age. Their daily leisure activities mostly revolve around online chatting, and they rarely visit parks or malls. Although they have lived in Beijing for quite some time, they are not very familiar with the geographical environment around their workplace. Once, when they needed to go to a nearby bank to open an account, they had to be led by a staff member from the personnel department. "None of us knows how to get to that bank," Li Hua said helplessly.

"For our kind of job, we're pretty tired by the end of the day; where would we find the time and energy to think about other things?" Other security guards also believe that working here to make money for survival is already sufficient. Ideally, they can send some money back home. As for so-called leisure culture, it seems too distant. Especially for those engaged in heavy physical labor, long hours of intense work leave them without the strength or energy to pursue leisure culture, and some even wash up and sleep immediately after work.

Mr. Wang, who works at a hotel in Beijing, comes from a rural area in Hebei Province and has worked there for nearly two years. Mr. Wang believes that the young people he usually interacts with mostly do not like dealing with urban residents. Instead, they prefer to stay within their own small circles and rarely take the initiative to integrate into urban cultural life. This mentality stems largely from their dual identity as both workers and farmers, leading to a sense of imbalance and inferiority. Under the influence of these psychological factors, they become more closed off and often abandon any potential leisure cultural experiences outright.

On one hand, people like Li Hua "don't relax much," while others are constantly puzzled by "how to relax." Xu Lin comes from Zhoukou, Henan Province and came to Beijing a year ago to work in marketing. Her career goal is to become a department supervisor after a few years of work. Xu Lin makes full use of her limited leisure time to study relevant professional knowledge and continuously recharge herself. In addition, she enjoys watching movies and traveling, making her a typical example of the "three highs" (high education level, high career aspiration, and high demand for material and spiritual enjoyment). Since she wants to further cultivate herself through reading, Xu Lin often visits large bookstores in Zhongguancun and Xidan. "Although I can usually find a seat, I always feel there aren't enough seats, and I often have to go up and down several floors to find one; otherwise, I'd have to stand."

"As for other leisure cultural activities, I basically rely on those organized by my company. Watching movies myself is too expensive, with tickets costing dozens or even hundreds of yuan. For someone at my income level, just not asking my parents for money each month is already a relief. If I do have spare money, I'd rather use it for a training course or something similar." This is a common sentiment shared by many people in situations similar to Xu Lin's.

The new generation of migrant workers has shown a "high demand" for leisure cultural life, but real-life conditions often dampen their enthusiasm. When "high demand" meets "low status quo," the stark disparity leaves them feeling as if they are stranded on a barren island of leisure cultural life. Experts point out that time and spending ability are only part of the reason for the lack of spiritual and cultural life among migrant workers. The cultural divide between urban and rural areas is the biggest obstacle to the spiritual and cultural life of migrant workers.

Lonely souls find solace in "creating an atmosphere" and "establishing an environment."

Unlike their fathers' generation, who "carried snake-skin bags into the city," the new generation of migrant workers, who "drag suitcases into the city," have put aside their rural dreams. They carry urban dreams, hoping to integrate into city life and become new citizens.

Gan Xiangwei, who works as a security guard at Peking University, is relatively lucky. Gan comes from a small mountain village in Guangshui City, Hubei Province, and came to Peking University with the dream of continuing his studies. In his own words, he came because of Peking University's reputation. After arriving, Gan Xiangwei fully utilized the high-quality educational resources provided by Peking University, studying and attending lectures whenever he had free time. Ultimately, he successfully passed the adult college entrance exam and was admitted to the Chinese Department of Peking University, fulfilling his dream of further education. Now, he is engaged in literary creation, adding a colorful touch to his enriched entertainment life. Reflecting on his initial choice, Gan Xiangwei said, "Being able to come to Peking University is truly fortunate; the humanistic environment and cultural facilities here are the main foundation for achieving my dreams."

Zhang Kai, from Gu'an County, Langfang City, currently serves as the captain of the security team at Peking University and is studying at the Open University. With a determined face, he often wears a gentle smile. Unlike Gan Xiangwei, Zhang Kai graduated from junior high school and initially came to Peking University solely for a livelihood. "At that time, I had no intention of further education; I took this job purely for survival. But after coming to the team, I noticed that many of my colleagues were passionate about learning, and influenced by Peking University's strong humanistic atmosphere, I naturally joined their ranks," Zhang Kai said. At Peking University, there are study rooms for self-study, libraries for reading, and the Hundred-Year Auditorium for watching movies... In short, all kinds of entertainment and cultural activities are available on campus. Since coming here, Zhang Kai hasn't left the school gates much. Captain Wang Gui Ming of the Peking University Security Team said that their security team strives to create conditions for the development of its members, sincerely hoping that every young man can not only earn a salary but also achieve better personal growth.

Peking University is like this, and other places are no exception. The spiritual and cultural lives of migrant workers have attracted widespread attention from the government and society. Recently, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions jointly issued the "Opinions on Further Strengthening the Cultural Work of Migrant Workers," marking the first comprehensive deployment of migrant worker cultural construction in China. As an important measure to eliminate the gap between urban and rural dual structures and promote the equalization of public cultural services, this action indicates that the Party and the government are using the power of culture to build a solid bridge for over 200 million migrant workers to integrate into urban life.

In addition, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Finance also issued opinions and notices on promoting the free opening of national art galleries, public libraries, and cultural centers (stations). By the end of this year, all national and provincial art galleries (stations) will be fully open to the public for free. All public libraries and cultural centers (stations) will achieve barrier-free, zero-threshold entry, with all public space facilities and venues fully open for free, and all basic service items offered for free. In this way, more migrant workers can directly enjoy the happiness of "quenching thirst" in cultural life.

Culture is the bridge for migrant workers to integrate into the city.

Feng Gong (Standing Committee Member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Vice Chairman of the Chinese Quyi Artists Association): In the context of generational changes among migrant workers, as the new generation of migrant workers gradually becomes the main body of migrant workers, their demands for cultural life show many new characteristics and new situations. Meanwhile, in terms of safeguarding the cultural rights of migrant workers and developing their cultural work, there are still issues such as insufficient emphasis and lagging systematic research. It is imperative to take actions to earnestly protect and effectively safeguard the cultural rights of migrant workers. We should actively guide migrant workers to utilize community cultural facilities and promote their integration into urban life through cultural exchanges. At the same time, we should accelerate the formation of a migrant worker cultural mechanism characterized by "government leadership, enterprise co-construction, and social participation," play the backbone role of public welfare cultural units, continue to increase the free opening of public cultural venues, attract social forces to participate in migrant worker cultural construction, encourage and guide various forms of participation by non-governmental public welfare organizations in migrant worker cultural work, making them beneficial supplements to government public cultural services. Establish a demand-oriented cultural service product supply mechanism. Strengthen the investigation of migrant workers' cultural needs, fully respect their status as cultural subjects, encourage and support the development of migrant worker cultural groups, and guide migrant workers to participate in healthy cultural activities. Additionally, establish a stable funding guarantee mechanism for migrant worker cultural work. Incorporate the daily expenses for migrant worker cultural work into the overall budget of public cultural services in the place of residence, gradually establishing a funding guarantee mechanism for migrant worker cultural work primarily based on government investment with active participation from social forces.

Bian Faji (National Committee Member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, President of the Chinese Acrobatics Association): Culture is the bridge for migrant workers to integrate into the city. Through our research, we learned that more and more new-generation migrant workers are flooding into cities, and their overall leisure cultural life is lacking, and they are greatly restricted in participating in leisure cultural activities. They generally lack satisfaction and are in a state of cultural hunger. We suggest increasing "spiritual food" for the new generation of migrant workers, such as building migrant worker theme parks, providing fitness equipment, establishing migrant worker clubs, increasing cultural and entertainment facilities, and lowering related charges through fiscal input and subsidies, creating a good leisure environment for the new generation of migrant workers. At the same time, more community cultural activities suitable for the new generation of migrant workers should be conducted, consciously expanding the diversity of leisure cultural life, stimulating the participation enthusiasm of the new generation of migrant workers, and improving their level of leisure cultural life. Union departments should supervise and guide enterprises to incorporate migrant worker cultural construction into their management systems, regularly holding entertainment and sports events, establishing cultural activity rooms and reading corners for the new generation of migrant workers. Truly make a batch of culturally strong, interesting, and entertaining activities accessible to the broad new generation of migrant workers.