As Beijing approaches the 2008 Olympics the city is undergoing massive physical transformation. Old neighborhoods are being torn
down and in their place huge shopping plazas, office buildings and new housing estates are being built, somewhat haphazardly without
careful city planning, and without consultation with local residents.
City Government officials claim that the old neighborhoods, which consist in thousands of hutongs, or alleys, lack adequate water and
electrical infrastructure, and that it is more economical to build anew. Critics say that many historical properties, such as courtyards
dating from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), have been bulldozed simply because property developers, in cahoots with local officials,
stand to make a killing from new real estate.
Most residents that are moved from their homes to make way for the new developments in the city centre cannot afford to buy
apartments built on the same land with the compensation given. So families and communities are being torn apart as they are forced
to relocate on the cheaper outskirts of the city.
But despite the haphazard city planning and demographic reorganization, thousands of migrant workers are given a lifeline in work
rebuilding the city. Demolition crews, scrap dealers who scavenge the demolished neighborhoods, and teams of construction laborers,
are unwittingly connected in an urban ecological web, in the inter-zone between the old and the new.
The majority of migrant workers on building sites are unskilled men, often previously farmers. They live together in makeshift
dormitories or tents on site, usually with workmates from the same hometown or province, since they are usually recruited in groups.
Migrant construction workers work long hours, sometimes up to 12 hours per day, and receive little pay, typically around 500 RMB
(approximately $60 USD) per month, much of which is sent to back home, fuelling the economies of their villages and towns and
doubtlessly contributing to the growth of China’s provinces.
This photo essay began in 2001, focusing on one area of Beijing, called Dong Si. At that time blocks of hutongs were being
demolished and a number of residents did not wish to leave. Since then, the place has become a number of building sites, employing
thousands of migrant workers, and now, in 2006, the work still continues.