Migrant Worker’s Tale of Inequality Grips China, Then Is Erased
A large portion of the 1.4 billion Chinese remain poor. About 600 million people, or 40 percent of the country’s population, live on about $150 a month or less.
As does Mr. Yue’s family.
Born in 1978 in the central province of Henan, Mr. Yue left his village to seek a better life in the city. He and his family settled down in Weihai, a coastal city in eastern Shandong Province, and he became a fisherman.
Mr. Yue and his wife had a happy family. Their first son was born in 2000. Ten years later, they had a second son, paying about $1,500 for breaking the one-child policy.
“As peasants, we didn’t earn much,” his wife, Li Suying, said in a phone interview. “But we were doing fine because we were frugal.” She posted an online photo album on her WeChat timeline in 2016 that was titled “A loving family.” She does many low-paid seafood-related odd jobs while taking care of the family.
Then, their elder son, then 19, went…
