The Rat People

In a relatively short amount of time, China has become the secondlargest economy in the world and is soon poised to overtake the US. In 1978,when China introduced its economic reforms, its GDP was $214 billion; in 2019,it is estimated to increase to $14 trillion. But the country's rapid growth wasachieved on the backs and shoulders of its workforce, many of whom were peasantfarmers turned into the mingong,urban migrant workers, celebrated by Mao and credited with helping Chinaachieve its economic miracle. Now, a million of them and their descendants liveunderground in Beijing under inhuman conditions, where there is no light orwater and little sanitation.

Author Patrick Saint-Paul spent two years living among the 'ratpeople' (shizu) of Beijing, in anetwork of deep tunnels and 20,000 former bomb shelters built during the ColdWar. The mingong come to Beijing fromall parts of the country, in search of jobs and a better life, but they areunable to afford their own homes on their meager salaries. For them, China'sdream of prosperity for all is a bitter fallacy.

In The Rat People,Saint-Paul brings the individual stories of the shizu to life, creating ashocking cautionary tale about the lengths to which people will go in search ofa better life, and the human cost paid in service to the modern economy.