Li Junjun is one of a fading breed among China’s 145m migrant workers who come from rural areas to the Pearl River delta to find well-paid work. Mrs Li, who has worked as a cleaner in Shenzhen for 16 years and is now 45, is not only older than many of them, but more pragmatic.

　　在中國1.45億從農村來到珠三角等地尋找高薪工作的農民工中，李軍軍（音譯）這樣的人越來越少了。她在深圳做了16年清潔工，現年45歲，不僅比其他大多數人年長，也更為務實。

　　“I have no education or special skills and if I don’t do a good job and work hard, I cannot improve my life,” she says. “When I am unable to work, I will go back to my home, but there are few opportunities there.”

　　“我沒有上過學，也沒有一技之長，如果我不好好工作，就沒法改善自己的生活。將來要是干不動了，我就回老家去，但那里沒什么機會。”

　　Mrs Li is speaking from the flat she shares with six young women, all of whom work in local restaurants. Most of those in her block are teenagers or in their 20s, and some have more ambition than to work in the city for a few years, save money to support their families and then return home.

　　李女士是在宿舍里講這番話的，她和6名年輕女子住在一起。這些年輕人都在當地餐館打工，大部分都是十七八、二十出頭的年紀，其中一些人比李女士有野心，她們的夢想可不是在城市里打幾年工，省錢養(yǎng)家，然后再回老家。

　　“My hope is that my children can live a better life than me. I think it will happen,” says Mrs Li, who is the family’s main breadwinner, earning Rmb1,900 ($297) a month. Her husband is in their village in Gansu province and tends their land. The couple has two children – a married daughter and a 23-year-old son in the army.

　　李女士說道：“我希望我的子女能過得比我好，我想這一定會實現。”她一個月掙1900元人民幣（合297美元），是家里掙錢的主力。她丈夫留在甘肅老家務農。他們有兩個孩子，女兒已經結婚，23歲的兒子在軍隊。

　　She represents the classic migrant worker of the first wave that came to the coastal cities in the 1980s. But the “new generation” – those born after 1985 – have bigger ambitions and are less dedicated to saving their wages for the family.

　　李女士代表著典型的第一代農民工，他們上世紀80年代來到沿海城市打工。而1985年后出生的“新生代”農民工野心更大，省錢養(yǎng)家的觀念更為薄弱。

　　In some ways, the new generation of migrants is luckier and better off than the earlier one. They not only earn more, but they can spend more of it on themselves and their advancement since their parents are less likely to live in poverty – the original generation of migrants helped to ameliorate that.

　　從某些方面來說，新生代農民工比第一代農民工幸運，境遇也更好。他們不僅掙得更多，還能夠把工資中更大一部分用在自身的生存和發(fā)展上，因為他們的父母已較少生活在貧困之中——這一定程度要歸功于第一代農民工。

　　“The first generation left the village to make money and then come back to build a house,” says Liu Kaiming, head of the Institute for Contemporary Observation, which monitors workers’ conditions in Shenzhen. “Now, the family’s house is built and there are no jobs there. They go to the city for their future.”

　　當代社會觀察研究所(Institute for Contemporary Observation)關注深圳打工者的處境，該所所長劉開明表示：“第一代農民工離鄉(xiāng)背井出來賺錢，然后回老家蓋房子。如今，家里的房子已經蓋好了，老家也沒什么工作機會。他們來到城市里為自己的前途打拼。”

　　As a result, they are less docile and harder to manage. Factories in the region commonly experience labour turnover of 10 to 15 per cent a month – or well in excess of 100 per cent a year. This generation does not find it so easy to settle.

　　所以他們不那么聽話、不好管束。在珠三角地區(qū)，員工流動率通常保持在每月10%-15%，一年下來遠在100%之上。新生代農民工不那么容易踏實下來。

　　“Our parents are too traditional. They think in a straight line. They would like to arrange a life for their children, but young people should enjoy the process of trying out many possibilities,” says one 23-year-old factory worker in Shenzhen.

　　“我們的父母太傳統(tǒng)了，他們是直線思維，他們喜歡給子女安排好生活，可是年輕人就該享受嘗試各種可能性的過程。”深圳一位23歲的打工仔表示。

　　Jane Cheng, a human resources executive for TTI, a power tools and electronics company based in Dongguan which owns US brands including Dirt Devil and Hoover, says the new migrants require careful handling.

　　創(chuàng)科集團(TTI)人力資源部高管程曉江表示，對待新生代農民工必須小心。這家電動工具及電子產品公司的主要生產基地在東莞，旗下擁有Dirt Devil和Hoover等美國品牌。

　　“Fifteen years ago, if it was the third day after the new year holiday and you went over to the dormitories and said: ‘We have a heavy order, come to work,’ they would all do it. The company was the most important thing. These days if you told them the same thing, they would say ‘no’.”

　　“15年前，假設過年后的第三天，你去員工宿舍說：‘來了一筆大訂單，快來上工。’大家就都去上工了。公司是第一位的?，F在，如果你再說同樣的話，他們會說‘不去’。”

　　Ms Cheng says the younger workers are, as the Chinese saying has it, “riding a donkey and looking for a horse” – they work in factories for money but are looking for opportunities. TTI has implemented a programme of community events and sports to make its workers feel happier and more stable.

　　程曉江表示，年輕農民工就像老話說的“騎驢找馬”，他們一邊在工廠打工賺錢，一邊在尋找機會。創(chuàng)科集團實施了一項計劃，積極組織集體活動，并舉行運動會，以增強員工的幸福感和穩(wěn)定感。

　　Yet last year an outbreak of suicides at Foxconn, the electronics manufacturer, revealed the unhappiness among some of the new generation. Their greater ambition to do well for themselves causes its own difficulties – especially when the reality does not match the hope.

　　然而，去年電子產品制造商富士康(Foxconn)發(fā)生的多起自殺事件，暴露出了部分新生代農民工的苦痛。他們有著改善自身的更高抱負，可是這種抱負本身也造成了問題，特別是當現實滿足不了他們的希望時。

　　Wage rates have been rising sharply across the delta following the deaths, but some of the underlying problems remain. Migrants are still bound by the hukou system of household registration, which excludes rural dwellers from education and social benefits in their adopted cities. It has also become very expensive to live outside factories that provide them with free dormitory accommodation and meals. Although they can see wealth and expensive property in the city, their opportunities are limited.

　　在發(fā)生這些自殺事件之后，整個珠三角地區(qū)的工資水平一直在大幅上漲，但是一些根本問題依然存在。“戶口”制度仍然束縛著農民工，農村戶口不能在城市里接受教育，也享受不了社會福利。此外，如果不是住在提供免費食宿的工廠宿舍，在外面住租金非常昂貴。他們在城市里看得到財富，看得到奢華的住宅，但他們自身的機會有限。

　　The government’s attempt to shift low-cost manufacturing into inland provinces is partly aimed at easing the problems of migrants. The idea is that they will be able to find work closer to home and not face the same isolation as in the coastal cities.

　　政府試圖把低成本制造業(yè)轉移到內陸省份，此舉一定程度上也是為了緩解農民工問題。他們的想法是，這樣農民工就能在離家近一些的地方找工作，不必再像在沿海城市那樣孤單。

　　Yet young people will carry on coming to the Pearl River delta to seek not only money, but a better life. Unless factories or the government can fulfil those hopes, they will remain restless.

　　不過，年輕人仍將源源不斷地涌入珠三角地區(qū)，不僅是為了掙錢，也為了過上更好的生活。除非工廠或政府能夠實現他們的希望，否則他們仍將處于焦慮之中。