The Shenzhen Sanhe Life Sciences Research Paper Essay

The Shenzhen Sanhe: A Model Community of Production Growth Your Name
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China’s Labor Market: Shenzhen’s Economic Growth
In 1980, Shenzhen was founded as a special economic zone and demonstrated the policy of being a model community of production growth, including model people, model factories, and model, villages (O'Donnell, Wong, & Bach, 1). Shenzhen created a culture of fast-paced labor ideology that mobilized millions of people to drive the market force of China and boost its economy (2). Shenzhen is located at the southern area of Guangdong Province near Hong Kong; however, due to the perceived benefits of working in the economic zone, there is a growing trend of internal migration of the people from other rural areas in China to economically productive areas, such as Shenzhen, in hopes of improving socioeconomic status (Mou et al., 213). The most common type of labor migration in China is the rural-to-urban migration that is important in meeting the demands of improving economy (213).This high influx of migrant workers pushed the rapid industrialization of Shenzhen where the migrants worked full time in factories doing hard physical labor in producing and assembling Chinese products to be exported in different places of the world ((NHK World Prime, Life at the Bottom of China's Labor Market).
However, working in these factories proved to be physically exhausting and mentally demanding to be a source of living in day to day lives. Additionally, public health officials also highlighted the suicide rate of factory laborers in Shenzhen due to the toxic in environment for the workers with long working hours without complementary pay for hard work (Mou et al., 223). The migrant workers were treated as cheap source of labor where some decided to escape long-term factory labor and work as a day laborer Shenzhen labor market (214).
In Shenzhen, there exists a labor culture where the laborers wait for a potential employer in a certain location and take jobs that pays within the day called the San He Labor Market. Day laborers often take easy jobs with better paying clients in the San He Labor Market compared to the slave work in factories (NHK World Prime, Life at the Bottom of China's Labor Market).
Although there are other cities that present the labor market in China, the Shenzhen's migrant labor market should be further studied since Shenzhen became a center of economic growth using migrant laborers. In this paper, Shenzhen’s labor market about migrant day laborers will be discussed to better understand the reality and social issues behind the economic growth of Shenzhen, which includes Exploitation of migrant workers, marginalization of rural migrants, poor housing conditions, poverty and income inequality, sex work, and mental health issues.
Exploitation of Migrant Workers in Shenzhen
Most of the workers in factories came from rural areas where factories provide food, board and lodging (Mou et al., 225); however, majority of these workers are still poorer than the native residents of Shenzhen since they live in less favorable economic condition with bad food and living environment (225). In Chines factories, the rural migrants are often tricked into agreeing in a contract with harmful and exploitative content (Florence, 89). Due to the influence of post-Mao models of labor and western models of labor, China's rural migrant laborers can be viewed as an important ingredient in the “labor-squeezing strategy of development” (89). In Shenzhen, the continuous economic growth of the city was accomplished by keeping the wages relatively low with maximum labor, labor control mechanism, population control and concealment of exploitation (89). For young migrant workers, Shenzhen's San He Labor Market is viewed to be an ideal place for job opportunities to evade slave like conditions in long term contracts in factories and transition into a more profitable day job (NHK World Prime, Life at the Bottom of China's Labor Market).
In the case of San He day labor market, the jobs are easy to do and high paying. The employers can also employ people that lacks sufficient educational background since the work usually don’t require proper expertise to fulfil. The workers can also quit anytime if they don't like the work or employer; however, since the workers need to wait day by day for work, the day laborers often work for one day and vacant for the next three days (NHK World Prime, Life at the Bottom of China's Labor Market).
Additionally, the economic zone has a very competitive environment since there are many people waiting for jobs with just a few job recruitments present (Florence, 87). In factory work, the requirements are demanding where the employers usually want laborers with sufficient academic background with complete ID and other relevant documents before employment (NHK World Prime, Life at the Bottom of China's Labor Market).
Marginalization of Rural Migrants
In the 1990's, migrants flooded the Shenzhen that prompted the government to strictly control the flow of migrant workers in the city by using identity cards or special permissions (Wang & Wu, 1462). The government used a family registration system or “Hukou” to monitor the movement of the people and to easily survey the demographic of a certain area and to allow or prevent the entry of people to a certain area (O'Donnell, Wong, & Bach, 5).
The Hukou system present a system of discrimination among Chinese people because the people cannot equally enjoy the privileges of a certain area if they are not a local Hukou holder (Mou et al., 225). If a resident in a certain place is not a local Hukou holder, such as the migrant workers of Shenzhen, they are deprived with social welfare benefits that is given to local residents such as insurance, health benefits, security of tenure, housing benefits and education (226). This also serve as a national ID system, which also represent the identity of a person.
If the ID is sold, it could be considered also as an identity lost. When the migrant workers decided to work in Shenzhen’s San He Labor Market, most of the migrant laborers usually start their venture by selling their ID to other people for a relatively fair price where the buyers illegally create a business under the name in the ID. Even if the illegal business got caught, the authorities will try to find the owner of the ID but, since the true owner of the ID doesn’t have it, the authorities will not find the owner anywhere (NHK World Prime, Life at the Bottom of China's Labor Market). Since most of the migrant workers sell their ID to other people, the San He labor market is more advantageous because some employers don’t require any ID or supplementary documents to hire laborers.
Poor Housing Condition
There is no public housing assistance from the government to secure the housing of migrant workers in the cities (Wang, Wang, & Wu, 154). When the migrant workers work in factories, the employers provide the necessary living quarter to their employees for it to be more appealing but there are cases when the employers try to steal the belongings of the workers including their IDs, documents and other devices to prevent the workers from leaving the factory (NHK World Prime, Life at the Bottom of China's Labor Market). These contribute to the mentality of migrant workers to pursue day jobs and not be fooled by false promises of long-term contracts of factory working.
As the economy of Shenzhen improves, the cost needed to live in the city increases. This affects the ability of day laborers to not readily afford sleeping in local inns in the area. Most of the day laborers try to minimize their spending by sleeping along the alley ways or in hidden spaces to avoid being caught by the police but when they have a few money to spare, they rent a bed space at illegally renovated inns that are meant to be their lodging (NHK World Prime, Life at the Bottom of China's Labor Market).
These spaces are termed to be urban villages that are poorly made compared to the actual living conditions in Shenzhen (Wang, Wang, & Wu, 154). These houses are built without proper planning and just place multiple bunk beds inside rooms to be shared by different day laborers. Additionally, these inns lack sufficient bathrooms and sewage systems that affects local sanitation (154).
Poverty and Income Inequality in Shenzhen
Although Shenzhen is one of the most economically advanced and fast-growing industries in China, it also has one of the highest poverty rates in the world. Most of the demographic survey in Shenzhen reveals that most of the people that belong to the benchmark of poverty are mostly migrant workers (Gravemeyer, Xue, & Gries). This is mainly due to the poor economic status of migrant workers that move from their rural province and rely on illegal employment sectors in the city. Rural provinces lack job opportunities to provide them the basic necessities of living (NHK World Prime, Life at the Bottom of China's Labor Market).
Additionally, the only work they want to do are day jobs that lack sustainability in providing them savings and investments for long-term growth. Most of the migrant day laborers in Shenzhen live for the moment and does not take into consideration what tomorrow will bring to them. They work not to pursue their dreams but to survive since most of the migrant day laborers doesn’t have any family to return to when they started working in Shenzhen (NHK World Prime, Life at the Bottom of China's Labor Market).