China migrant workers' silver dreams

MIGRANT worker Guo Huailiang is planning to live it up a bit in his retirement.

After 19 years living in cramped quarters in Beijing, rising at 5:30am for a 12-hour shift, the 52-year-old construction worker is socking away money that would allow him to return to his eight-room house and four-acre plot in the countryside, spend a bit of cash and travel.

He's dreaming of trips to Hainan Island, Taiwan and even South Korea.

Multiply Mr Guo by the millions who migrated to China's cities, toiling away in factories and building sites for decades, and you have a hoard of savings that stands to revolutionise China's consumer market.

It turns out that China getting old may just help…