A Working Gala

by+Zi+Mo

Regardless of your feelings about it， the Spring Festival Gala presented by China Central Television （CCTV） is an indispensable dish for Chinese family dinners on Lunar New Years Eve. Unlike the glamorous CCTV gala， a modestlybudgeted Spring Festival gala presented by and for migrant workers kicked off at the Nine Theater in Beijings Chaoyang District on February 1， 2015.

Unique Spring Festival Gala

Surprisingly， cast and crew of the migrant workers Spring Festival gala are all amateurs. They are either factory workers or social workers from labor NGOs. When off the stage and dressed in their work clothes， they are indistinguishable from Chinas 300 million migrant workers.

Now an annual event， the migrant workers Spring Festival gala began four years ago. At the end of 2011， several troupes comprised of migrant workers gathered at the New Workers Theater in Picun， a migrant neighborhood on the eastern outskirts of Beijing， to offer a“self-entertaining” show. They performed songs and short plays depicting their lives as migrant workers.

“All the performances were impressive and touching，” recalls Xu Duo， a founding member of the New Workers Theater and director-in-chief of the 2015 Migrant Workers Spring Festival Gala. “They were inspiring： Why not organize a Spring Festival gala as a platform for migrant workers to perform themselves？”

The idea soon became reality. Xu and other organizers spent some money to redecorate the stage of their theater and recruited migrant workers from around the country to perform. Prior to the 2012 Spring Festival， the first gala was staged. A video of the show received more than 1 million clicks in a few days after it went online.

Chaoyang Culture Center offered a venue and stage for the 2015 event， but all cast and crew still worked for free. Even so， organizers still had to cut costs as much as possible to stay within the modest budget.“Our budget is about 100，000 yuan，” explains Xu. “This is primarily used to pay for traveling expenses and accommodation for cast members from beyond Beijing. In order to cut costs， even make-up artists were volunteers. Seventy percent of our budget was raised via online crowdfunding， and the rest was donated by charity organizations.”

Along with songs and dances， performances also included crosstalk， short plays， and poetry recitations by performers from Beijing， the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta， all regions with high concentrations of migrant workers. “We find lots of good options in the process of recruitment，” illustrates Xu， “but we have to pass on many which arent associated with migrant workers. The Spring Festival gala should be a platform for migrant workers to express their voices and feel the warmth of togetherness.”

Zhang Feng， a native of Hubei Province， is a drummer for the band “Factory Pentangle.” The band performed a song titled “8-Hour Work Day.” In 2012， Zhang left home to work at a Foxconn factory in Shenzhen， Guangdong Province. He worked there for two years. Then， he joined in a charity school where he taught migrant workers instrumental music. The song “8-Hour Work Day” satirizes the fact that most factory workers in China work much longer hours. “The hourly wage is quite low， so factory workers must work long shifts to scrape up more income，” says Zhang. “Overtime is even considered a kind of welfare.” Factory workers hope to live dignified lives solely from earnings of eight-hour work days. The short play Women Workers in Four Decades by Mulan Art Troupe， a group comprised of female migrant workers in Beijings Changping District， tells stories of four female migrant workers born in the 1960s， 70s， 80s， and 90s， respectively. “The Spring Festival gala offers a stage for migrant workers to show their talent， and more importantly， it provides a channel for them to share their voices，” remarks Qi Lixia， a member of Mulan Art Troupe.

Voice in Song

According to Director-in-chief Xu， despite the fact that it drew greater participation and attention in the past four years， the gala remains a platform for migrant workers to express their voices and emotions.

Since Chinas reform and opening-up， generations of laborers have left their rural homes to become factory workers in cities， creating a massive group of people known as “migrant workers.” Over the past three decades， they have provided cheap labor to bolster the countrys rapid economic growth. Under the traditional rural-and-urban dual system， however， migrant workers from rural areas do not enjoy the same rights as urban residents.

Unlike their parents generation who primarily hoped to bring money earned in cities to their rural homes， migrant workers born in the 1980s and 90s hope to settle in cities， safeguard their rights and interests， and make their voices heard. In this context， they would rather be labeled “new workers.”

“The term ‘new workers can refer to all laborers and represents the future of migrant workers，” opines Xu Duo. “Most come from the countryside. Working in cities， they deserve not only to get paid enough to survive， but also the same rights to housing， medical care， and education as urban residents.”

Since its establishment， the New Workers Theater has adhered to the motto“Expressing feelings through song and protecting rights with art.” In the eyes of Xu， the motto demonstrates that migrant workers hope to voice their suffering from social inequality and share their interpretations of realities. Having their voices heard is the first step to having their rights protected. As it has attracted more spectators and attention， the migrant workers Spring Festival gala has undoubtedly become a platform to create sound loud enough to be heard by both policymakers and the general public.

Cui Yongyuan， a former CCTV television host and producer， has volunteered to host the migrant workers Spring Festival gala since its first year. This year， Cui hosted the gala along with two hostesses： Wang Fuju from Anhui Province and Ding Li from Gansu Province. Both born in 1988， the two hostesses worked in factories in southern China before becoming social workers.

Wang Fuju， who majored in social security in a Beijing college， once served as a volunteer at the Migrant Workers Home. After graduation， she went to work at a Shenzhen factory. One year later， she quit her job in the factory. “Every production line had a supervisor，” she recalls. “No matter how hard you worked， there was always more work waiting ahead. We worked two shifts a day and found little time to communicate with each other. I found no one to talk with even in the dormitory. I feared that I would end up depressed if I continued working there.”

The gala enables migrant workers to express their own voices. “Every performance – song， dance or short play – is based on its performers personal experiences as migrant workers and conveys their aspirations for future，” Wang grins.

The video of the 2015 Migrant Workers Spring Festival Gala will be broadcast online during the festival. Cui Yongyuan posted on his microblog： “Without migrant workers， cities would no longer bustle because they are injecting vitality. Their homes are in the countryside. They left their parents to work in cities， not only to chase their own dreams but also to enhance the prosperity of these cities. Holding back tears， they drip sweat as they work hard. Lets applaud new-generation workers for their efforts to safeguard dignity. At the 2015 Migrant Workers Spring Festival Gala， I saw the silhouette of a group of hardworking people.”