Around China: Young migrant worker seeks urbanization (2)

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"No supermarkets, no buses. I can't even find a kiosk to buy a newspaper," Yin said.

People like Yin, the second generation of migrant workers, have a better education and more expectations for life and work, said Zhang Yanguo, security director of the construction site where Yin works.

"They, especially those who were born in the 1990s, are less likely to endure hardships like their fathers did," Zhang said.

Abandoning a rural identity does not make Yin an urbanite, not according to his hukou, or household registration. Acquiring an urban hukou is extremely difficult for migrant workers, but without it they are locked out of welfare, can't send their children to local schools or even give birth in a local hospital in the first place.

Now father of a 4-year-old boy, Yin feels his burden become heavier. He and his wife make a total of 5,000-6,000 yuan (820-985 U.S. dollars) a month, but raising a kid costs at least 1,000 yuan each month, and will be more as he grows.

Housing prices in Jinan range from 7,000 yuan to over 10,000 yuan per square meter. Purchasing an apartment seems like "mission impossible" for the couple, who live in a prefabricated building on the construction site for "free".

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