After a tiring journey, Zhang Zhifeng, a migrant worker from the mountainous Guizhou Province in southwest China appeared at a job fair with his huge red suitcase.
Zhang, 27, went there directly from the railway station after arriving at Guangzhou, the capital of the prosperous Guangdong Province in south China.
"I considered leaving the case in my friend's home first, but as they (employers) are now in shortage of laborers, I thought maybe it wouldn't take long for me to find a job here," he said.
Two hours later, Zhang signed a contract with a computer factory, which promises to give him 1,800 yuan (about 273 U.S. dollars) a month, as well as a dormitory with an air-conditioner and an annual bonus that is as much as his monthly salary.
Zhang is among the millions of migrant workers in China, who, after the long vacation back home for the Spring Festival, the most important Chinese festival for reunions of family members, are returning to cities to look for new jobs.
Shortage
Many of the traditionally prosperous regions, like the Yangtze and the Pearl river deltas, however, are experiencing labor shortages after the holidays.
In Guangdong, more than one million workers are needed, which counts for about five percent of the total number of laborers in the province, said Ou Zhenzhi, head of the human resources and social security department of the Guangdong provincial government.
In Yiwu of east China's Zhejiang Province, which is a well-known manufacturing hub for small commodities, representatives of 11 companies which needed nearly 1,000 workers went to northwestern China to seek workers, but they brought back only eight workers.
The Golden Hawk Craftwork Co.,Ltd needed 800 workers, but only 100 are now working in the factory. "We have received lots of orders," said Zeng Jianming, the general manager of the company.
Like many other companies, they started looking for workers on Feb. 4, or the second day of the Chinese Lunar New Year. At that time, the labor market was still hard to get into. Staff from labor-seeking companies stood at the side of the road, holding billboards with employment information.
"Once two or three workers were found, we sent them immediately to the factory," Zeng said, complaining that without enough laborers, they couldn't get new orders.