CHINA-ECONOMY-LABOUR-EU-AFRICA-ASIA

To go with AFP story ‚China-economy-labour-EU-Africa-Asia,FOCUS’ by Sebastien Blanc
A photo taken on February 3, 2012 shows a lavish home in the village of Lujiazhuang, in northern China’s Hebei province. In a small village south of Beijing, working-age men are in scant supply and the arid fields nearby are tended mostly by the elderly and women. Many have relatives toiling away overseas in countries such as South Korea, Mauritania, Sudan or Israel, earning from 7,900 to 11,000 USD annually. The dangers faced by migrant workers abroad came under the spotlight last week when dozens of Chinese labourers were kidnapped in Egypt — and subsequently released — and Sudan, where they remain held by rebels. AFP PHOTO / Ed Jones