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Edition: U.S. Article Comments (0) Save Email Print Reprints Most Popular Most Shared Obama, Saudi King discuss 2-state Mideast solution 29 Jun 2010 UPDATE 1-Google sets timeframe to end China reroute 1:27am EDT China denies military exercise aimed at U.S. 29 Jun 2010 Singer murdered after denying he was dead 29 Jun 2010 Nearly 1 in 3 U.S. Q1 home sales a foreclosure: report 12:27am EDT Analysis: Legal tussles get messier for Gulf rig owners 29 Jun 2010 WRAPUP 2-Hurricane Alex new blow to US oil spill efforts 3:18am EDT Hurricane Alex could make land late Wednesday 2:06am EDT Analysis: Doing nothing might have been best for oil spill 28 Jun 2010 Russia angry as U.S. seeks to limit spy fallout | Video 29 Jun 2010 Nearly 1 in 3 U.S. Q1 home sales a foreclosure: report 12:27am EDT Trapped drunk driver opens another beer as awaits rescue 23 Jun 2010 Scrap dollar as sole reserve currency: U.N. report 29 Jun 2010 Singer murdered after denying he was dead 29 Jun 2010 Lawmaker sees panel voting to end Cuba travel ban 29 Jun 2010 Analysis: BP PR blunders carry high political cost 29 Jun 2010 Analysis: Doing nothing might have been best for oil spill 28 Jun 2010 Google sets timeframe to end China reroute 1:34am EDT UPDATE 1-Google sets timeframe to end China reroute 1:27am EDT House backs homebuyer tax credit extension | Video 29 Jun 2010 Commentary Bernd Debusmann: In Afghanistan, history rhymes America's war in Afghanistan is similar to the Soviet Union's disastrous occupation in the same country. Maybe Mark Twain was right: In war, history doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes. Commentary China labor strains reflect a countryside in flux Chris Buckley SOUTH MAQIAO VILLAGE Wed Jun 30, 2010 2:26am EDT Related News In China's Qinghai, prosperity is a long way off Mon, Jun 21 2010 China urges improvements at work as Honda strike ends Tue, Jun 15 2010 Q&A: What's behind China's recent labor unrest? Tue, Jun 15 2010 UPDATE 3-China urges improvements at work as Honda strike ends Tue, Jun 15 2010 CORRECTED-UPDATE 1-China urges improvements for restive workers Tue, Jun 15 2010 SOUTH MAQIAO VILLAGE China (Reuters) - Ma Xiangqian's house stands silent in a tree-shrouded village in central China, the inscription on its padlocked gate announcing the hopes for prosperity his family says drove him into the factory life that killed him. World | China The shy 19-year-old was among the first of a string of deaths this year at a vast Foxconn electronics complex of 400,000 workers in far southern China, that has cast a spotlight on the hard lives of the country's 150 million migrant laborers. Foxconn and police believe Ma, like nine other young workers after him, killed himself. Ma's parents suspect he was killed. The deaths have sparked an uproar about stressful conditions in the strictly-run complex and raised concerns about the damage to society from China's rush into industrialization that is luring millions to quit rural life. Foxconn says its treats its workers humanely and follows labor laws and regulations. Ma Xiangqian's sister, Ma Liqun, who also worked at the company's same big complex as him, said many workers resented what they said were long hours, a relentless pace on the production line, and harsh discipline. Ma's journey from his quiet village in Henan province to the humming industrial site, where he died on January 23, illustrates how the high expectations of China's migrant workers in search of better wages can darken life in their rural homes. "Loud and bright, this year will be better than the last," says the traditional Lunar New Year couplet glued to the locked gate of Ma's now empty home. "Living dragons and tigers, next year will be better than this." Ma took the job at Foxconnto help his family escape 60,000 yuan ($8,827) of debts from building the two-story house, meant to help him find a bride, said his family. "In the countryside, no matter how hard up you are, you need to build a decent home so your son can get married," said Ma's father, Ma Zishan, speaking by phone from Guangdong where he and his wife continue to press police to look into their son's death. "You need a son to keep the family together and keep the farmland, but now he's dead and I don't know where to turn." Ma's parents were already saddled with fines for having four children, double what family planning rules usually allow. Like other villagers, they looked to their children to find work and send remittances to help pay for new houses, motorbikes and TVs. RISING ASPIRATIONS, RISING COST Rising rural aspirations, and the rising cost, are part of the reason for the increasing discontent of China's migrant workers, said Li Changping, a former rural official who won fame in China in 2000 by denouncing the economic burdens on farmers. "These migrant worker kids carry expectations about building a home, getting married, having children, becoming successful, and there's a real pressure from trying to keep up," said Li, who now lives in Beijing, researching rural development. Making a direct link between any particular death and these pressures was impossible, he said. "But, still, migrant workers certainly do feel the stress," he added. Like much of modern rural China, Ma's home village is dominated by old people and children. "Nearly all the young people go out to work," said Ma Zibing, a grey-haired 62-year-old, sunning himself outside his home. Most in this clan-based village of about 400 share the Ma surname. "Most head south to Guangdong, but they go all across the country. All that's left here are old people and kids." The villagers make thousands of yuan a year by growing sapling, shrubs and flowers that are then sold to urban markets. This relatively lucrative farming niche is not enough for the young. They prefer to join the army of rural migrants, toiling on road works, building sites and production lines. With nearly 100 million residents, close to 70 percent of them rural, Henan province is a vast source of migrants. "You need to do it to make real money," said Ma Wenfang, a 21-year-old woman, who said she had come back to the village to marry after working at a factory in south China. NOBODY FARMS She saw no future in farming. "Nobody our age farms anymore," she said with an amused snort. "Nobody my age could plant a stalk." The torrent of cheap workers, most with a basic education, has helped make China a global base for manufacturing. It has also brought change to villages such as South Maqiao. Two-story homes of brick and tile are displacing one-story mud-brick dwellings. Motorbikes and electric scooters outnumber bicycles. Farmers tending their plots of shrubs interrupt conversations to answer cell phones. Ma's first name, Xiangqian, means to "move forward." As the sole son among four children he carried the hopes of his parents to find a foothold in this rising wealth. In rural China, boys are often seen as bearing the family line. But achieving those hopes left a heavy financial burden on the family. The parents defied family planning rules by having four children -- Ma Xiangqian was the youngest, with three sisters -- rather than the two usually allowed. They struggled with fines of 20,000 yuan ($2,928) imposed by village officials, said Ma Xiangqian's mother, Gao Caoying. "If you didn't pay you'd be locked up. But the village chief too pity on us and let us pay a little bit at a time," she said. ATTRACTING SUITABLE BRIDE They borrowed 60,000 yuan from kin and friends to help pay for the two-story house, which cost 80,000 yuan unfurnished, in the hope it would help their son attract a suitable bride. "Everyone builds homes for their children whether they have the money or not. The big task in life is to have a good house for your son and his wife," said Ma Jianfu, a fellow villager and cousin of the family. "But everyone depends on working away. If you don't work away, you're living standard won't keep up." Ma Xiangqian quit junior secondary school to train as a cook. Then he turned his hopes to joining his older sisters in Guangdong, where they worked in factories. After a stint in a garment factory, in November last year he joined his sister in the Foxconn complex, owned by Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, which make products under contract for Apple Inc, Dell and Hewlett-Packard among big electronics brands. Other Foxconn workers who died in the recent rash of suicides also came from struggling rural backgrounds, according to profiles in Chinese newspapers and magazines. "There'll come a day when I give you a big house to live in so you can live a good life," Lu Xin, a 24-year-old who jumped from a dormitory in May told his mother before his suicide, Phoenix Weekly, a Chinese magazine, reported this month. Ma Xiangqian was bullied by supervisors who pushed him off production work to cleaning toilets, said his parents. His first full month's wages at Foxconn amounted to 1,943 yuan. Back in their home village, the saplings that once boosted the family income were dead and yellow from neglect and overgrown with weeds. Neighbors said they sympathized, but did not have the time to look after the neglected plot. "Nobody has the time to help," said Ma Shujian, an elderly neighbor. "We're all too busy looking after ourselves." (Editing by Jonathan Thatcher) World China Add a Comment *We welcome comments that advance the story directly or with relevant tangential information. We try to block comments that use offensive language or appear to be spam and review comments frequently to ensure they meet our standards. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. © Copyright 2010 Thomson Reuters Editorial Editions: Africa Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom United States Reuters Contact Us Advertise With Us Help Journalism Handbook Archive Site Index Video Index Reader Feedback Analyst Research Mobile Newsletters RSS Podcasts Widgets Your View Labs Thomson Reuters Copyright Disclaimer Privacy Professional Products Professional Products Support Financial Products About Thomson Reuters Careers Online Products Acquisitions Monthly Buyouts Venture Capital Journal International Financing Review Project Finance International PEhub.com PE Week FindLaw Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests. NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.

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