Eight years ago 31-year-old migrant worker Sun Heng boarded a
train bound for Beijing from Anyang City in central China's Henan
Province with a guitar and not a lot else.
His life became governed by 1.5 yuan (US$19) a day busking on
the streets. When he did find work, it was carrying heavy loads,
riding rickshaws and singing for pittance in grotty nightclubs.
The turning point came in May, 2002. He founded a band of
migrant workers and began to put on mini concerts exclusively for
other migrant workers.
"We need songs about our lives, not hollow ditties or sweet
melodies about urban vanity," said Sun.
The band has now stages over 200 performances for over 60,000
migrant workers and they have distributed over 100,000 cassettes
and CDs. There are no exotic settings, no grand stages, no roadies
and no big trucks. But the "Young Migrants Band" has a guaranteed
fan base.
They began touring the country last December, performing their
first gig in Sun's hometown of Anyang.
"It was so cold that even our voices were frozen, but none of
the audience left until the last minute," said the young singer,
who will continue his trip to Shenyang, Xi'an, Guangzhou and many
other cities across China after the Spring Festival holiday.
Sung has spent the run-up to the Chinese New Year recording a
new album, which includes a song called "Five Jiao (meaning six
cents)".
The song was written about the real experience of a worker in
Shenzhen. The man worked for several employers but not one of them
paid him. When the New Year drew near, he had only five jiao in his
pocket and had to lie to his mother about his life in the
metropolis.
"There are always so many stories behind the people far away
from home," said Sun, who has also been making a digital video
newsreel as the Spring Festival approaches.
The heroine of the video is a woman from east China's Shandong
province. She operates a Shandong snack stall in suburban Beijing.
Her husband is a truck driver who longs to buy his own truck for
20,000 yuan (about US$2,577). They have been working hard in
Beijing for seven years but their ambitions are still distant
dreams.
"I want to record the real life of migrant workers and create
our own culture," Sun said.
As the New Year approaches, the band has been drawing more
attention.
A week ahead of the Spring Festival, Sun attended the first
celebration gala for 120 million migrant workers nationwide put on
by CCTV.
"Work is glorious! Work is glorious!," he sang with more than a
trace of irony. The performance will be broadcast to the whole
country.
This year, Sun will spend New Year in Beijing with his
family.
"It is the first time I have been able to spend New Year's Eve
with my family in Beijing since I left my hometown," he said.
They have invited six friends who are migrant workers in Beijing
but whose hometowns are all over China.
"They would rather spend the New Year's holiday in Beijing
although it is the biggest time of family reunion for the whole
nation," Sun said,
"Their annual income is about 5,000 yuan (about US$644), half of
which would be used up for traveling expenses and gifts for family
members if they went home," Sun said.
(Xinhua News Agency February 17, 2007)