"They sleep in boxy rooms crammed into dingy low-rises and spend hours commuting to work on crowded buses." They are the "struggling college graduates who swarm out of their cramped accommodations and head to work in the urban sprawl each morning." Reuters has described them as "China's ant tribe".
As two of our co-workers began their seventh year in China, they told us, "We still feel privileged to be where we have so many opportunities to share the Good News with those who have never heard. Our desire is for our time here to be spiritually profitable and that we would have meaningful relationships in order to share the wonderful news of Jesus."
The number of Chinese citizens officially registered as working overseas had increased from 657,000 in 2006 to 740,000 by the end of 2008. The real figure, including those who have not registered, is quite possibly in the millions.
"Some local churches in rural areas of our Zhejiang Zhuji City have started saying that the Lord will come before the Chinese New Year. Many young students have quit school. Married people have got divorced and quit work. Several hundred people are living together to pray and waiting to be caught up... They close themselves up and do not allow other preachers to go inside."
"How do I start to tell you how much Father has moved here in such a short time?" one of AM-CCSM's China-based co-workers asked. She shared how a short visit to an orphanage in the province where she lives led very quickly to the setting up of a new project.
So far this year, ten workers have committed suicide at one company's southern Chinese manufacturing hub. Some reports have claimed employees were working more than the mandated maximum number of hours and that as many as a quarter were not taking a day off a week.