"The apartment has a color TV, a telephone, and central heating, and we can even take hot water baths in it," Li Fuxiang, a forty-year-old dock worker, said on his bed.

The apartment building he lives is named "Apartment for Blue Collars," which the Tianjin Port rented for its dock workers, mainly migrant workers from rural areas.

"We used to live near the dock. Now it's much better, and it costs only one yuan (US$0.125) a day," he said.

Altogether there are three such apartment buildings, one is a 19-storey high-rise and the other two are six-storey buildings, with a total floor space of more than 40,000 square meters. They have 630 rooms which give shelter to 4,800 workers. The high-rise has an elevator.

With an electric fan swaying beside his bed, Li sleep soundly when a group of journalists visited his dormitory on Wednesday afternoon. "I'll work from 8:00 PM. today to 8:a.m. the next morning. Then I'll take a rest for 24 hours," he said.

"The place where I lived before was very dirty and noisy. Sometimes we could not have a good sleep," Li said.

Agriculture only contributes to 15 percent to China's GDP while the population of rural people accounts for 60 percent of the country's population. Large amounts of surplus rural people seek new jobs in cities, where they are called "migrant workers." 

At present, about 113 million migrant workers serve in the fields of construction, processing, manufacturing and tertiary trade. Most of them work and live in poor conditions with poor incomes.

"I dare say the living condition of our workers is better than most other migrant workers," said Yu Rumin, president of the Tianjin Port (Group) Co. Ltd.

As the Tianjin Port provides a subsidy of 200 yuan (US$24.65) for a worker, each pays only 30 yuan (US$3.69) per month for the dormitory, except for water and electricity charges. The company also arranged shuttle buses from the apartment buildings to the docks.

Tianjin Port is one of the world's top ten ports. Its overall economic results ranks first among China's coastal ports.

Yu said, "Migrant workers are also members of the port and they have made a great contribution to the port."

According to a new plan made by the Ministry of Construction, the housing problem for migrant workers has been placed on the agenda of the ministry.

(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2005)