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He usually wears a funny hat all the time, very large and round, but that could be due to the fact that he is working outside under Xinjiang’s blistering sun all day.  Everybody knows how much Chinese dislike the idea of having dark skin, and even though Mr. Hua is no exception, the tan is worth the paycheck.  From sunrise until sunset he works relentlessly picking cotton in one of the many fields that fill the open land here in Xinjiang.  He has left his home, family, and kids in the Hubei province to work here as a migrant worker, and although he has been here since the summer, he still has a month left to go until winter sets in.

While most people tend to migrate to the big cities for better jobs, cotton pickers are in high demand here in Xinjiang.  Hundreds of workers scour the cotton plant that in the west is usually picked by machine, and although this may seem like an antiquated practice, I think it actually works well for those men and women who need the money – the migrant workers.

Xinjiang, besides being a major producer of oil products for China, last year accounted for 36% of the country’s total cotton.  So when the price of cotton begins to fall, just like the price of most everything else right now (rice, the stock market, etc.), it has major effects on Xinjiang’s cotton industry and its migrant workers.

For this reason Beijing has taken steps to fight this battle against the falling cotton price.  Their solution?  The government will buy up more of the country’s cotton to stabilize the price.  Sounds like a good plan, but you have to ask yourself where they will put all this extra cotton.  Beijing and Shanghai are pretty crowded right now, so why not just keep it stashed away in Xinjiang’s storage sheds.  So that’s what they’re going to do.

I guess the good news is that Mr. Hua not only gets to keep picking his cotton here, but now he gets a much comfier bed to sleep on while he’s away from his family.

Workers stack cotton at a purchasing station in Xinjiang