Floris-Jan van Luyn is a journalist and filmmaker. He has been active as a South East Asia correspondent for the Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad following his stint as China correspondent from 1995 to 2001. He has studied history and Chinese in Leiden, Taipei and Beijing.
(Prometheus, 2004, 239 pages)
The largest human migration in history is taking place in China. Since the 1990s, 120 million peasants have left the countryside for the big city, sometimes motivated by ambition but more often by economic necessity. They work on construction sites, in factories, in catering or prostitution, and they are strong, tough, and without even the most basic rights. They are a crucial factor in the spectacular economic growth of the People’s Republic.
