« Mingong » ouvrier-paysan, mains d’oeuvres venus de la campagne et qui forment depuis le milieu des années 90 une population flottante, corvéable à merci, employée en masse sur les grands chantiers de construction. Population à part au coeur même de cette nouvelle Chine en pleine évolution, ils sont plus de 200 millions. Travailleurs itinérants, paysans déracinés, ils travaillent à bas prix, sept jours sur sept, dix heures par jour, dans des conditions extrêmement pénibles. Ce sont eux qui construisent la Chine de demain dans l’ombre. More than 200 million mingong are roaming China. At least 25% don’t get paid by their employers. According to Zeng Peiyan, a member of China’s State Council, the equivalent of more than $13 billion has not yet been paid to mingong; in some cases debts are more than 10 years old. Sixty percent of mingong have to work more than 10 hours a day. And 97% have no medical benefits whatsoever. Shanghai urban professionals insist that technically, at least for now, no Chinese peasant can dream of having formal employment. You can spot a mingong from miles away. Their work clothes, blue or brown, are shabby and covered in dust. Whatever their perceived shortcomings, they are the unknown, heroic protagonists of China’s spectacular economic miracle. In the big cities there are now more floating mingong than urban workers.