Yongfu Lament 永福路换歌

The hands of a Chinese construction worker who left home aged 12 to support his family

Yongfu Lament 永福路换歌

举起皴裂如砂纸般的双手，
I raise these hands chapped into sandpaper,
昏暗的灯光下我试图读懂掌心的纹路，
Under the dim light I'll try to read the lines across the palms,
明白他们告诉我缘何我已抵达这里，
Knowing they tell me how I came here,
这跋涉如何赋予一个男人梦想，
How does this toil give a man dreams,
又或是给了我自己。
Or perhaps give me myself.  

但是不久我就厌倦了，
But soon I'll tire of this,
不久我就搓着双手，
Soon I'll just wring my hands together,
拼命有把粗糙搓着，
Desperately using the coarseness to slough themselves away,
忘掉那些纵横交错的线路。
Forget those crisscrossing interwoven lines.
仿佛这样能把自己带回家，
As if this could take me back home,
但却只是暖和了点儿罢了。
But it only warms me a little.

One text we had to translate in class claimed that China's development is built on the back of China's migrant workers, who are called 'peasant workers' in mandarin, and this poem is no doubt from their experience. Their numbers are estimated at 274 million, and they are treated as second class citizens in the cities they migrate to work in thanks to the Hukou system. This system identifies migrant workers as belonging to rural areas, therefore they are denied many social benefits when the enter cities. Children of migrant workers who accompany their parents to cities are not allowed into the state owned schools.

However, a recent report by Bloomberg (China's 274 million migrant workers are older and more expensive) has found that migrant workers wages are on the rise.