“Coronavirus: China’s stranded migrant workers desperate to return home as savings dry up”, 1 August 2020

Zhu Bowen was excited about the possibility of landing an IT job when she travelled to Tokyo in December. Now, with the coronavirus pandemic having completely upended her life, the 24-year-old is out of options and looking to return to China…

Before March, Zhu’s net income was around 127,000 yen (US$1,210) a month. From March to May, that was cut by 20 per cent. In June, it was slashed another 20 per cent. Finally, she said, the company asked her to voluntarily resign with no compensation.

“I eventually resigned,” she said…

… he [Xiong Gang, a Chinese migrant in Singapore] has turned his focus toward the thousands of Chinese migrant workers living in Singapore’s cramped dormitories. He delivers food and other necessities to them – many of whom work in the construction industry. But these packed dorms have become a hotbed for the coronavirus, and the government was forced to transfer some workers to different facilities and to conduct mass testing among them…

… “The food is not good, they can’t move freely, and they feel very depressed.

“Many receive a monthly government subsidy of 700 Singapore dollars (US$509), but migrant workers largely rely on overtime work for their savings…

In a video posted on social media in June, Ren Jiagui, a 58-year-old former engineer, pleaded for help alongside other Chinese workers who remain trapped in Nigeria. Ren was laid off in March and now lives off savings and donations…