There’s a saying in the Chinese capital: if you fall on hard times, try your luck in Majuqiao.
asserted
you → ’ → Majuqiao
As daylight breaks over the city, dozens of day labourers are lingering around the main intersection in Majuqiao, a low-income neighbourhood in Beijing’s south-eastern fringe.
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dozens → break → fringe
Some still hope to pick up work for the day, even though the morning peak for hiring has passed.
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peak → hope → hiring
“I’m looking for a low-skill job such as carrying bricks and spreading mortar.
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I → look → mortar
I haven’t got one yet,” says Zhang (not his real name), 55, who originally comes from Shandong, a province south of Beijing.
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who → get → Beijing
“Work is getting harder and harder to find, and income is getting lower and lower.
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income → get → ?
For example, I got paid 270 yuan ($56) a day on average last year, but only 200 to 210 yuan this year.
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I → pay → yuan
It begins heaving about 4.30am daily, as recruiters offering shifts in factories, on construction sites or in parcel sorting zip by in minivans, shouting daily pay rates until they find their quota of workers.
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they → begin → workers
Most people here are migrant workers from nearby provinces – a term in China that refers to the tens of millions of farmers who leave the countryside searching for better-paying jobs in cities.
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who → refer → cities
Many are men aged over 45, already deemed too old by harsh and arbitrary age restrictions imposed via more formal recruitment channels.
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Many → age → channels
Job ads written on pieces of paper hang in agency shopfronts in the centre of Majuqiao, spruiking roles such as work in a honey factory for adults aged under 43, and shifts in a military industrial factory for people aged 20 to 36.
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ads → write → people
Coming to the Majuqiao market is a way to gauge the economic reality of ordinary people at the bottom of what analysts increasingly refer to as China’s K-shaped economy.
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analysts → come → economy
Some economists suspect the official government statistics are underselling the country’s gloomy domestic outlook even as exports boom and China’s AI-powered robotics and high-tech industries race at frenetic speed (the upper half of the K).
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industries → suspect → K
Data from August paints a bleak picture of an economy still dragged down by its property market bust in 2021, which tanked the main source of middle-class wealth, fuelling a collapse in consumer spending that has ricocheted across the economy.
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that → paint → economy
Property investment has plunged by 20 per cent this year, continuing a long decline, while retail sales have been stagnant at 0.4 per cent, and youth unemployment has hit a year-long high of 18.9 per cent.
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unemployment → plunge → cent
Our visit to Majuqiao is illustrative in another way: a reminder of the challenges for Western media in reporting on sensitive issues in China (which the economy has become), and the self-censorship that occurs as people weigh up what they can and can’t say.
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they → report → what
This stifles much of China’s public conversation about anything with a political undercurrent, against the constant refrain of authorities denouncing foreign actors who “smear” the nation, and expectations of positive media coverage.
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who → stifle → coverage
As we walk along the main strip, one man who appears intrigued by our presence and open to speaking with us suddenly changes his mind, querying whether I am a spy.
We meet Zhang on a side street where a medley of the day’s unsuccessful job hunters are milling beneath a venue ironically called the Rich Club, a dilapidated electronic music venue that seems to be under renovation.
“Don’t say too much!” one passerby yells, as my Chinese colleague and I are quickly surrounded by a dozen or so labourers while we talk to Zhang.
Few Westerners come to this part of Beijing, and the mood grows tetchy as their curiosity mixes with suspicion about our motives.
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curiosity → walk → motives
What happens when they cannot get work for the day, I ask.
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I → happen → day
“It means you just have no food to eat today.
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you → mean → food
It’s a very realistic thing to say, right?
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It → ’ → ?
China’s overall economic environment is not good right now,” one worker responds.
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worker → respond → ?
Midway through our conversation, Zhang receives a call from someone who warns him to watch what he says to the foreigner, lest it paint a negative picture that could have consequences – though exactly what those might be is unclear.
uncertain
those → receive → consequences
He hangs up slightly chastened, and asks if we understand the Chinese system, where the imperative is to report positive stories.
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imperative → hang → stories
“No one watches Xinwen Lianbo nowadays,” he says, referring to China’s flagship state television news program broadcast across the country at 7pm.
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he → watch → 7
“You’re not allowed to tell the truth,” he adds, urging us to walk around the neighbourhood and see for ourselves before he hurries off, declining to give his name.
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he → allow → name
We take his advice and wander Majuqiao’s rabbit warren of narrow alleyways lined with cheap eateries, dormitories and bedsits that fit little more than a single mattress.
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that → take → mattress
The streets are remarkably clean, with barely a cigarette butt on the footpath, a sign that authorities know the benefit of ensuring living standards are maintained as much as possible, especially during tough times.
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standards → know → times
A few people loitering in the street are noticeably drunk at 7am.
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people → loiter → am
“When people run into difficulties, they tend to come to Majuqiao as a temporary stop, a transition,” says Yang Zaiqiang, 43, of Hubei province in central China.
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Zaiqiang → run → China
Others like the flexibility and getting paid daily, he adds.
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he → like → flexibility
“You can find all kinds of people here, and it can be quite chaotic.
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it → find → people
There were many jobs going this morning, Yang says, but the pay was so low for exhausting work that it wasn’t worth it.
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it → be → work
He pulls out his phone to show his bank balance, revealing a small buffer of savings he can fall back on while holding out for better-paid gigs.
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he → pull → gigs
“For some jobs, you need to work 12 hours, and they only pay 180 yuan ($38),” Yang says.
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Yang → need → yuan
“You can’t really save much money living here.”
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You → save → money
Before coming to Majuqiao a month ago, Yang was working as a day labourer in Wuhan, where he says recruiters would offer hourly rates as low as 16 yuan ($3.40).
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recruiters → come → yuan
But there’s a reason for so many farmers to leave their villages.
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farmers → ’ → villages
“You have to farm a lot of land before you can really make money,” Yang says.
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Yang → have → money
This is just a snapshot of the precarious existence faced by millions of China’s lowest-paid workers.
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This → face → workers
…and 28 more, not listed.
The Aporia
