Shenzhen, In the “Migrant City” 8.7.2024

Shenzhen, In the “Migrant City” 8.7.2024

I’m just another soul in the masses,
Ethnicities and classes.

The Reform and Opening Era began forty years before,
When countless others—mothers, sisters, brothers—
Followed the winds of change, seeking prosperity.
To get rich is glorious,
But getting there is laborious.

Growing pains on the way to maturity;
Many lost their soul, cut off their roots to the land—
These are the beautiful and damned.

What’s next? What is the answer?
The money has dried up, and lostness has spread like a cancer.
Skyscrapers stand empty; people lament, venting of the gentry.
Is this the Chinese century? Or just another one of humiliation?
What will come of this nation?