Photo Essay: In China’s Factory Belt, a Shadow Economy Is Fleecing Student Workers

This article chronicles the challenging experiences of Chinese high school and college students seeking temporary summer factory jobs in Kunshan, a major manufacturing hub near Shanghai. The students, lured by promises of high wages and easy employment, encounter unexpected obstacles: an oversaturated job market, exploitative labor agents, misleading contracts, and at times, outright scams, turning their search for work into a lesson in economic hardship and labor exploitation. [para. 1][para. 2][para. 3][para. 4]

Hu Yongwang, a high schooler, and Zhao Xiange, fresh from taking the national college entrance exam, both journeyed long distances to Kunshan in hopes of securing temporary factory work. Recruiters promised monthly salaries of around 5,000 yuan (~$700), with Hu spending much of his initial funds on bus fare as an “investment” in future wages. Zhao, whose progress was monitored by his wary father, was encouraged to enjoy the trip even if no job was found. [para. 1][para. 2][para. 3]

Upon arrival, the students joined crowds of other young jobseekers outside hotels, awaiting placement by labor agents. Agents like Chen Shangjun collected student IDs, instructed students not to reveal their student status, and charged “work deposits” of 100 yuan, refundable only if the contract's duration was completed. Employment offers varied: jobs typically paid 14.5 yuan/hour for standard shifts, and 21.5 yuan for overtime, amounting to about 160 yuan a day. Yet, not all applicants were chosen for immediate factory placement. Some were offered lower-paying, less desirable jobs in distant locations, often with uncomfortable or unsafe conditions—such as transport in windowless, unventilated vans. [para. 5][para. 6][para. 7][para. 8][para. 9][para. 10][para. 11][para. 12][para. 13][para. 14][para. 15]

As the job market grew saturated, more students found themselves stranded for days, incurring additional expenses (such as deposits and lodging costs) without finding work. Scams were frequent, with agents sometimes disappearing after collecting deposits. Even those who landed jobs discovered their contracts contained misleading terms. High hourly rates advertised were only achievable if students worked through September, long after their summer break. Most would instead receive a base salary of about 2,490 yuan/month, plus limited overtime—far below expectations—once expenses for food and lodging were deducted. [para. 16][para. 17][para. 18][para. 19][para. 20][para. 21][para. 22][para. 23][para. 24][para. 25]

Many agents profited indirectly by charging inflated prices for transportation and essential supplies, or by collecting kickbacks from factories if students stayed a set minimum period. The competitive labor agency industry incentivized recruiting as many jobseekers as possible, regardless of job availability, worsening oversupply and leading to profiteering at students' expense. Some agents earned hundreds of yuan per student merely for transportation or facilitating “placement,” while online recruiters were tasked with ensuring new hires stayed at least a week to secure fees. [para. 26][para. 27][para. 28][para. 29][para. 30][para. 31][para. 32][para. 33][para. 34][para. 35][para. 36][para. 37][para. 38]

Many students ultimately rejected jobs after calculating low take-home pay, deciding the financial and personal risks outweighed the benefits. Veterans of this process, like recruiter Liang Yi, described the lure of high wages as a deliberate “bait,” acknowledging that profits for agents came directly from the value created by student labor—“the wool is shorn from the sheep’s own back.” Despite these difficulties, Kunshan and other factory cities continue to attract record numbers of student workers each summer, driven by limited opportunities in their hometowns. [para. 39][para. 40][para. 41][para. 42][para. 43][para. 44][para. 45][para. 46][para. 47][para. 48][para. 49][para. 50][para. 51][para. 52]