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Peasants hawk luxury goods as mass migration leads to dislocation
By Wan Lixin |
June 23, 2009, Tuesday
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LOCAL police confiscated 30 million (US$4.4 million) yuan worth of fake branded purses, eyeglasses and watches, after raiding four hidehouts near Xiangyang Road (Shanghai Daily, June 22).
The area's fame as a fakes mecca has spread so far and wide that some overseas celebrities make it a point to make time to buy something there.
Last April, pop singer Celine Dion, escorted of eight body guards, graced one such store.
Unfortunately for the super-rich couple owning the shop, the media attention earned them five months in criminal detention.
My office is only five minutes' walk from this tourist must-see, but I have never been to any such stores.
It is said that some of the most prestigious (like the one visited by Celine Dion) used closed-circuit TV to monitor outside goings on and only admit in customers referred by acquaintances.
In any case, I am more interested in another group of persons that is part of this fake goods food chain: the middle-aged women (or men) armed with impressive pictures of the fake goods, roaming the streets in search of potential buyers.
Their manner and accents usually betray their migrant status.
When ancient Chinese stressed the multiplicity of trades, they referred to "the 360 trades and professions," but this trade is definitely not on the list.
Endless roaming
This business is particularly well suited to peasants recently uprooted from their fields, now open to the possibilities of urban life, but lacking the talent or skills to survive.
Hawking does not make any demands on educational background or professional experience, and all that is needed is the audacity to sidle up to any passersby.
It is rare to see any city so tolerant of country folks.
There are many jobs that are open (often exclusively) to migrants, but they invariably require certain attributes.
Nearly all those engaged in drilling, tearing up and repaving the many streets in the cities are migrants. These jobs can only be manned by those noted for their hardiness.
The dimly lit barbershops and beauty parlors supply ample job opportunities for migrant women, but only young, presentable women are suitable for the challenge of that profession.
Cutting edge
But the fakes sellers keep sustain a group of migrants who have plenty of time on their hands, and nothing else.
I often ask myself how these incessant roamings on noisy streets compare with farming back home, near their parents and children. Some of the most destitute migrants come from areas known for their pristine scenic beauty and strong familial bonds.
Practiced on a national scale, this mass migration of peasants to cities has resulted in social dislocation, which has yet to be sufficiently appreciated.
For the past two decades we have interpreted this generous supply of rural labor as China's comparative advantage.
While many countries make agriculture one of their most heavily subsidized sectors, rural China has been sacrificed on the altar of industrialization and globalization.
When rural life is universally stigmatized as backward and a life without future, sweatshops and subsistence wages are subtly rationalized in terms of competitiveness.
The idea of urbanization can always be floated to leverage China's economic outlook.
The sudden economic crisis should have alerted us to this underlying structural imbalance. It has not.
The area's fame as a fakes mecca has spread so far and wide that some overseas celebrities make it a point to make time to buy something there.
Last April, pop singer Celine Dion, escorted of eight body guards, graced one such store.
Unfortunately for the super-rich couple owning the shop, the media attention earned them five months in criminal detention.
My office is only five minutes' walk from this tourist must-see, but I have never been to any such stores.
It is said that some of the most prestigious (like the one visited by Celine Dion) used closed-circuit TV to monitor outside goings on and only admit in customers referred by acquaintances.
In any case, I am more interested in another group of persons that is part of this fake goods food chain: the middle-aged women (or men) armed with impressive pictures of the fake goods, roaming the streets in search of potential buyers.
Their manner and accents usually betray their migrant status.
When ancient Chinese stressed the multiplicity of trades, they referred to "the 360 trades and professions," but this trade is definitely not on the list.
Endless roaming
This business is particularly well suited to peasants recently uprooted from their fields, now open to the possibilities of urban life, but lacking the talent or skills to survive.
Hawking does not make any demands on educational background or professional experience, and all that is needed is the audacity to sidle up to any passersby.
It is rare to see any city so tolerant of country folks.
There are many jobs that are open (often exclusively) to migrants, but they invariably require certain attributes.
Nearly all those engaged in drilling, tearing up and repaving the many streets in the cities are migrants. These jobs can only be manned by those noted for their hardiness.
The dimly lit barbershops and beauty parlors supply ample job opportunities for migrant women, but only young, presentable women are suitable for the challenge of that profession.
Cutting edge
But the fakes sellers keep sustain a group of migrants who have plenty of time on their hands, and nothing else.
I often ask myself how these incessant roamings on noisy streets compare with farming back home, near their parents and children. Some of the most destitute migrants come from areas known for their pristine scenic beauty and strong familial bonds.
Practiced on a national scale, this mass migration of peasants to cities has resulted in social dislocation, which has yet to be sufficiently appreciated.
For the past two decades we have interpreted this generous supply of rural labor as China's comparative advantage.
While many countries make agriculture one of their most heavily subsidized sectors, rural China has been sacrificed on the altar of industrialization and globalization.
When rural life is universally stigmatized as backward and a life without future, sweatshops and subsistence wages are subtly rationalized in terms of competitiveness.
The idea of urbanization can always be floated to leverage China's economic outlook.
The sudden economic crisis should have alerted us to this underlying structural imbalance. It has not.
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