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The first golden rays of morning light rose like silk from the east, awakening the sleeping city and carefully wrapping it in the warm orange-yellow morning sun. In this ancient and quiet community, a picture of harmony and livability is slowly unfolding.
Turning his gaze to the four-story building in the North District, a migrant worker brother was sitting quietly at the door, his face full of exhaustion and hard work. His rough hands were stained with dirt and cement, and the overalls, which had seen signs of age, were soaked with sweat, as if he had just experienced a fierce and hard battle.
The yard in front of him was uncleaned and overgrown with weeds, revealing the fact that the owner of the house had neglected to take care of it for a long time because he was busy. Looking further south, there is a sleek and bright high-end apartment, with a staggered glass curtain wall that shimmers in the reflection of the morning sun.
The occupant of this apartment, a young and handsome civil servant, came out of it leisurely, refreshed and neatly dressed.
He gently closed the car door and drove the car out of the complex, ready to start the day. It is the same community, but it seems to be two completely different worlds, and the huge gap in the living environment is deeply shocking.
Fate had taken these two neighbors to the extreme.
Time flies, the seasons change, and the living conditions of migrant workers do not seem to have been substantially improved. Most of them come from remote and impoverished villages, and have to live far away from their homes and in bustling cities to support their families.
After coming to the city, they were dispersed to various construction sites, restaurants, factories, etc., and became cheap laborers. The working environment they face is extremely harsh, far beyond the imagination of ordinary people.
Some people toiled in the scorching summer sun, allowing the sun and heat to invade wantonly; Some people work outdoors in the open air, enduring the ruthless ravages of the wind and rain; There are also some people who are placed in closed workshops and factories, suffering from noise and chemical gases all year round.
They work so hard every day. Early in the morning, they set out before dawn, did not finish their work until nightfall, and then hurried back to their humble rental house to rest.
Their sleep time is pitiful, and their tired bodies seem to be hollowed out, because of their meager income, coupled with the fact that they are in a foreign land and lack the support of relatives and friends, their quality of life is naturally not as good as it can be.
In stark contrast to the difficult fate of migrant workers, the lives of civil servants are much easier. They have stable jobs in the city, and although the income is not very good, it is enough to meet their daily needs, and they live a comfortable life.
This civil servant may seem mediocre in appearance, but in his heart he deeply cherishes his career and life situation. He is an ordinary employee in the government, although the salary is not extremely rich, but compared with the vast number of migrant workers, it is more than enough.
Every month, in addition to a stable basic salary, civil servants are entitled to a variety of subsidies and allowances, such as reimbursement of transportation expenses, communication allowances, etc., as well as additional income such as holiday bonuses.
What's more, with their special status as government civil servants, they can enjoy many benefits that are difficult for ordinary people to achieve, such as relatively low-cost staff dormitories, preferential policies for children's schooling, and annual health check-ups arranged by the unit.
Such a stable and superior lifestyle allows them not to worry about daily livelihood and children's education, and at the same time, they have sufficient financial resources to cope with other major expenses, such as family members' medical expenses, car purchases, house purchases, etc.
Compared with their migrant workers, they live a very different upper-class life. When the sky is dark, the whole city is shrouded in colorful lights, presenting a strange scene.
And at this moment, those two neighbors with very different fates are also experiencing completely different life journeys.
The day of the migrant worker often begins at the dawn of the day. He had to walk alone through the darkness and cold wind on a starry night to a construction site in the suburbs.
When he arrived at the construction site, it was already dark, and many workers were already engaged in their busy work.
There is always a pungent smell of flying dust and machinery, and the noise of noise is one after another.
It wasn't until the sun set that the migrant worker barely finished the day's work. After leaving the construction site with the workers, they had to walk a long way to reach the bus stop due to its remote location.
The crowd walked heavily, their faces tired, and their words were filled with the eagerness to return to their humble rental house as soon as possible to rest.
And not far away, the civil servant's "off-duty time" also quietly came. He carefully groomed from the office and walked out of the door of the unit in good spirits. Although the overtime work today is not too long, he is still very happy.
Of course, this does not mean that the work of civil servants is easy, but in terms of working environment, it is indeed much more comfortable than on construction sites.
When the enterprising man left the flat, he quickly started his beloved private car, had a deep telephone conversation with his gentle and virtuous wife, and carefully discussed and carefully arranged the sumptuous dinner and other trivial matters of the family in the evening.
Through the warm words on the phone, we can feel that their family lives extremely comfortable and full of happiness.
When he returned to the downstairs of his apartment, the warm and attentive caretaker took the initiative to open the door for him and asked him with concern how he was doing today. It was in this way that a sparkling and distinguished public official began his quiet and elegant nightlife.
This stark contrast of life actually reveals a grim reality in Chinese society that cannot be ignored. Over the years, there has been a serious imbalance in the development of urban and rural areas on the mainland, and the pace of development in the vast rural areas has lagged far behind that in the cities, with the result that countless peasants have had to leave their hometowns to seek livelihoods.
The imbalance between urban and rural development is first manifested at the economic level. Compared with urban areas, the rural economy is relatively sluggish, and the per capita income level is relatively low. The urban economy, on the other hand, is booming, with high income levels and broad growth potential.
Judging from the important indicator of income alone, it is indeed difficult for migrant workers to compare with urban residents, and the quality of life will naturally be greatly reduced.
In addition, there are significant differences in the level of social security. Workers and civil servants employed in cities enjoy various social security benefits, and even have pensions as living security after retirement; However, migrant workers are often excluded from the formal social security system and lack the most basic social protection.
When they suffer from a serious illness or are too old to continue working, their lives will be extremely difficult.
From the economic base to public resources to social security, the gap between urban and rural areas objectively exists. This long-standing imbalance in development is the root cause of the stark difference in the living standards of different groups such as migrant workers and civil servants.
In order to truly solve this problem, the key lies in accelerating the process of new-type urbanization, striving to narrow the gap between urban and rural areas, and promoting the realization of common prosperity.