The first 10 months of last year saw more than 270,000 Chinese workers going abroad to work, the People's Daily overseas edition reported.

 

Currently, about 4 million Chinese workers, or 0.3 percent of the country's population, are working in foreign countries, the newspaper said.

 

They are living a very different and difficult life, far from home and family members.

 

Their security and living conditions have raised concern at home and abroad.

 

In a recent incident, five Chinese telecom workers were kidnapped in Nigeria. Although they were released safely on Wednesday, the general living and working conditions of Chinese workers in that country have raised worry.

 

There are more than 300 Chinese companies running businesses in Nigeria, involved such fields as petroleum, household appliances, and cell phones.

 

A worker, surnamed Zhang, working for a Chinese telecom company in Nigeria, told People's Daily that his job always required him to work outdoors.

 

He could not be sure of having three square meals a day, or even a daily bath. Worse, malaria was a common disease among his colleagues.

 

Besides their work, they also had to engage in public relations activities with the local communities.

 

In big cities like Lagos, due to bad road conditions, frequent power blackouts, and few public places of entertainment for the Chinese, most workers chose not to go out in the evenings, the newspaper said.

 

Chinese workers can also be found in war-stricken countries.

 

In Baghdad, capital of Iraq, there are about 20 telecom workers besides the Chinese diplomatic staff. Hundreds of Chinese workers are also in the Kurdistan area of north Iraq.

 

Most of them are working for a Norwegian oil company in exploration work. They receive a monthly salary of about US$1,000 and are under the protection of the Kurdistan military, making it difficult for them to socialize with the local community.

 

Algeria too has a large number of Chinese workers.

 

Peng Guichen, in charge of labor services in Algeria under the China State Construction International Group, told People's Daily there are more than 9,000 workers. Most of them were skilled, like electrical engineers, carpenters and bricklayers.

 

"The reason they are working here is very simple -- to make money," Peng told the newspaper.

 

The monthly salaries ranged from US$400 to US$800.

 

The number of Chinese workers going abroad has steadily increased since 2003, according to the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.

 

(China Daily January 20, 2007)