I started working as a chengguan when I left the army. About 70 percent of my co-workers are veterans like me. We so-called law-enforcers head out every day to clear the streets of illegal obstructions and all we get from the public and our managers are criticism and abuse. People call us assholes because we deprive street vendors of their source of income, but do you know how much my monthly salary is? It is just 1,200 yuan! I have nothing left after I buy powdered milk for my kid. I would say 90 percent of my co-workers can’t afford to buy a home. We also have to do unpaid overtime, even on holidays.

A fire at coal mine in the eastern province of Shandong yesterday evening left 36 miners tapped underground, the official media reported today. By early morning, seven of the miners had been rescued. This follows two separate mine disasters at the weekend in the south-western provinces of Guizhou and Guangxi that left 42 miners trapped. Despite on-gong rescue attempts, the miners remain underground.

After two migrant workers riots in Guangdong early June, and apparently at the behest of Guangdong Party Secretary, Wang Yang, the province plans to honour its migrant workers by building a museum - the first official museum of its kind in China – showcasing their immeasurable contribution to the development and modernization of Guangdong.

A 21-year-old Foxconn worker fell to his death from the sixth floor of his dormitory in the company’s vast Longhua complex in Shenzhen early Monday morning, the Shenzhen Commercial Daily (深圳商报) reported. The young man, named Cai, had joined the company just last month and was employed primarily as an assistant, his cousin told the newspaper. Cai, described as cheerful and easy going, had been to a friend’s birthday party the night before and seemed to be in good spirits, his cousin said. The incident follows the death of a 20-year-old worker at Foxconn’s Chengdu factory on 26 May.