农 (nóng): This character relates to agriculture or farming. It originally depicted a field and a tool, representing the act of cultivating land.
民 (mín): This character means “people” or “citizen.”
工 (gōng): This character means “work,” “labor,” or “worker.” Its shape is often said to resemble a carpenter's square or a simple tool, symbolizing labor and craft.
The term literally combines “farmer-people” (农民) with “work/worker” (工), creating the meaning “farmer who is a worker.” This highlights their official, unchangeable status as rural citizens while describing their actual occupation in the city.
The concept of the 农民工 is arguably one of the most important socio-economic terms in post-reform China. They are the engine of the “Chinese economic miracle,” having built the vast cities, staffed the “world's factory,” and provided the cheap labor that fueled decades of unprecedented growth.
However, their status is complex and often precarious. This is primarily due to China's 户口 (hùkǒu), or household registration system. A person's *hukou* is tied to their birthplace and designates them as either “rural” or “urban.” A 农民工, holding a rural *hukou*, does not have access to the same social services—such as public education for their children, subsidized healthcare, and retirement benefits—as a registered urban resident, even if they have lived and worked in the city for decades.
Comparison to Western Concepts: While “migrant worker” is the closest English translation, it's an imperfect parallel. In the West, a “migrant worker” often implies someone crossing international borders (e.g., from Mexico to the US). 农民工 are internal migrants within their own country. The barriers they face are not national borders but internal, administrative ones. They are citizens who are treated like long-term guests in their own country's economic centers.
This phenomenon has created widespread social issues, including:
留守儿童 (liúshǒu'értóng): “Left-behind children” who grow up in villages raised by grandparents while their parents work in the cities.
春运 (chūnyùn): The Spring Festival travel rush, the largest annual human migration on Earth, is largely composed of millions of 农民工 journeying home for their one major holiday of the year.
The term 农民工 is used constantly in news media, government reports, academic discussions, and everyday conversation.
Formality: It is a neutral, official term and is not inherently derogatory. It's the standard, correct term to use.
Connotation: In casual conversation, however, the term can carry connotations of being “uneducated,” “un-cosmopolitan,” or from a lower social class. While many urban Chinese respect the hard work of the 农民工, stereotypes persist. The “new generation” of 农民工 (born in the 80s and 90s) are often more educated, tech-savvy, and have different aspirations than their parents, challenging these old stereotypes.