
Forced March China: Left by the wayside in the rush to growth
Samuel Bollendorff
Economic growth in China has left three fourths of the rural population by the wayside, below the poverty line. They have no money and cannot afford to send their children to school. The only solution is to migrate inland and become migrant workers without work permits known as “mingong”. Coal mines, major construction projects, and factories serving customers the world over are seen as a latter-day El Dorado by people leaving the land of their ancestors in rural regions now devastated by industrial pollution.
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Mingong are exploited, moved around and have no entitlements to any social services. As cheap labor, they are at the mercy of corrupt forces. And every day, they risk their lives as they serve China’s “economic miracle”.
Samuel Bollendorff
An investigation conducted in partnership with Abel Ségrétin Commissioned by the French Ministry for Culture & Communication (National Center for Visual Arts).