MAN doesn't live on bread alone and for some migrant workers in Hangzhou that means writing poems and essays about their village back home, life in the city, loneliness and challenges. Xu Wenwen reports.

Migrant workers toiling at manual labor in cities are stereotyped as less-educated and not particularly interested in books, ideas and writing. But some migrants are writing poems and essays that will appear in the anthology "Grand Canal, My Mother" later this year. It's a compilation of 36 poems and 26 essays written by construction workers, cleaners, ayis and people in many low-paying jobs.

The anthology reflects the real lives of migrants who come to Hangzhou seeking a better life from rural areas; they speak of loneliness and longing and going far away from home.

These writers and others take part in the Zhejiang Province Migrant Workers' Writing and Literature Center in Hangzhou's Shangtang Neighborhood. Set up in 2007, it has more than 140 members.

Thirty-three-year-old Pan Yunhua arrived in Hangzhou from Anhui Province when he was only 20, and he worked nearly 10 jobs, gardener, electrician, laboratory worker.

Life changed for Pan in 2005 when he started writing essays to express his feeling about life and work.

"I am introvert and sensitive as I was born in a single-parent family," Pan said. "And I prefer to write rather than talk to express my inner feelings."

Posting articles on his blog, Pan attracted several fans. Later he connected with professional writer and poet Wang Jinhu, who would later found the migrants' writing center. Wang helped him with his poetry and prose.

Thanks to Pan's sensibilities and Wang's teaching, some of Pans essays were published in local newspapers in 2006. Then the young man with only a vocational school diploma found an office job, as a copywriter in an advertising company.

Pan is not the only migrant worker-turned-scribbler. The works of many others like him have been praised for their candor, realism and natural touch.

The Migrant Workers' Writing and Literature Center is a nonprofit organization, providing 13,000 books and periodicals and giving free training and writing seminars to migrant workers.

The 1,700-square-meter center was founded by Wang Jinhu, the deputy director of the Poets Committee of the Zhejiang Writers Association, and the man who helped Pan get started.

Older poet

"In recent years, many migrant workers like Pan turned to me for help and instruction," Wang said. "I can see an increasing passion about writing from them. I set up the center to help them because the passion for writing among low-income people is especially commendable."

Writing poems and essays - and being able to share them in print - have helped change the lives of some migrants, such as Pan, while the vast majority of migrants sweat in factories and construction sites throughout the country. To them, literature is not a way to earn life, but a hobby.

Chen Yong'an, a 56-year-old migrant from small Zhuji Village in Zhejiang, has been writing for eight years since he first published his own work, "Xi Man's Poetry Anthology." Xi Man is his pen name. He won the third place in the Zhejiang Migrant Workers' Literature Competition and has published a second anthology.

A few lines from the poem "Heading to Far Away Places," written 18 years ago when Chen moved to Hangzhou:

"It is hard to head to far away places, as to cross the sea

Go, there is sorrow, don't go, sorrow as well

Go, there's awkwardness, don't go, there's distress

It is as hard to head to far away places, as to climb to heaven

Go, there is no regret, didn't go, there's obsession

Heading faraway, seeking the lost soul

Heading far away, to achieve the lifelong wish."

Growing up in a mountainous area, Chen did not finish junior middle school. Over the years he has worked in Huzhou, Zhejiang, as well as Hangzhou where he was primarily a bike repairman. From years of heavy chores, Chen's hands are dry and cracked, but he never gives up his pen.

"Thirty years ago, my monthly salary is less than 20 yuan (today US$2.90), yet I spent tens of yuan on subscribing to literature magazines every year," Chen recalled. "I was the only one to do so in the village, even in the town."

Twenty-six years ago when his daughter just had her first birthday, Chen resolved to leave the mountain area to earn more for his family.

"I want to make a living and have my own business in a city," Chen promised himself.

But for 20 years he experienced failure after failure, losing all of his small capital, so the family fell into abject poverty, unable to even buy a bag of rice. He still kept writing.

When worked as a bicycle repairman, Chen repaired bikes during the day and when inspiration came to him, he recorded it on paper torn from a cigarette pack; in the evenings he sorted through his ideas and wrote poems.

"Writing poetry is not for fame or fortune but interest," Chen said. "It is already an indispensable part of my life, which enriches my spirit and helps me cherish my conviction."

Live has improved greatly. Now Chen and his wife run a small business selling clothing accessories. All those years of struggle inspired him to write a poem in praise of his wife who supported him throughout the years.

"If I were the bone

My wife would be the flesh on the bone

Assuming the two were apart

Bone would die

And flesh would decay ..."

Migrant workers like Pan and Chen have been writing a lot. Since the migrants writing center started three years ago, hundreds of poems have been written.

"Migrant workers write about their hometown, parents, life in a workshop or a construction site, which is realistic and not embellished," said Wang, the professional writer and founder of the center.

"Moreover, they ignore the pain and suffering; instead, they highlight the inner aspects of human nature, which makes their works more touching."