Sim Chi Yin From "The Rat Tribe", 2010 -2015. Thirty-year-old Zhou Limei breastfeeds her 8-month-old baby, Zhao Qingxuang, in her basement room beneath a huge condominium complex in west Beijing. Her family of
(...) farmers gave up their land and sold their house in Jilin, northeastern China, to move to Beijing to run a basement, renovating it and partitioning it into 140 rooms to rent to fellow-migrant workers. Her family of eight now lives in five of those rooms, staking all their futures on the business. Sadly, they are now facing closure as the authorities have declared their basement illegal and a fire hazard. They have protested against the authorities and are demanding full compensation. Faced with sky-high property prices, living underground is often the only option for this legion of low-waged migrant workers, who make up one-third of Beijing’s estimated 20 million people. Beijing. China. Aug. 24, 2011. © Sim Chi Yin | Magnum Photos
