Migrant workers in Shenzhen wired a total of 8.95 billion yuan (US$1.08 billion) to their rural hometowns last year, accounting for over 68 percent of all the money wired from the southern city, according to the local government.

In the past 15 years, Shenzhen's migrant workers made money transfers totaling 82.05 billion yuan (US$9.9 billion).

A large number of migrant workers in the city come from provinces such as Hunan, Jiangxi and Henan where the local economy is relatively underdeveloped. Most remittances were made around festivals such as Spring Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival and the New Year.

A baby-sitter surnamed Hu, who works for an ordinary family in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, transferred almost all of her 400-yuan income each month to her home in a poor remote mountain area. Last year, her family bought a color TV with the money.

Currently there are nearly 100 million rural people working in the cities, and their income has been a major source for rural families to improve their lives. 

(Xinhua News Agency February 6, 2005)