Xiong Gaolin is one of the lucky ones: a victim of occupational disease in China who has actually received reasonable compensation. However, it took him nearly four years to get that money and there are still issues left unresolved. Xiong could have just accepted part-payment but, like many other workers with occupational illness in China, he is determined to fight on until justice is finally done.

The family of a badly injured worker demand justice from the world’s largest maker of electronics at an arbitration hearing in Shenzhen. Frontpage photograph of Foxconn factory in Shenzhen by CLB.

China, the manufacturing hub of the world, is in danger of losing that title. Its population is aging fast as its one-child policy, begun in the 1970s, begins to bite. This, in turn, could lead to a huge labor shortfall by 2050, according to experts.

Guangzhou’s train station was a depressing sight. It was nearly midnight and the day’s waves of travelers had receded, leaving a tidemark of litter on the concrete floor. The place was filthy and cold. Many of the city’s jobless migrants had come to spend the night here. They arrived in groups of seven or eight, men and women from Guangxi and Yunnan, mostly in their thirties and forties, pulling heavy plastic bags of personal belongings across the station floor. They’d search for a corner and sit, leaning against their bags. Some dozed off quickly, weary after a day spent walking around the city looking for work. Others kept their eyes wide open, on the watch for security officers.