{"id":30993,"date":"2009-01-10T12:48:15","date_gmt":"2009-01-10T19:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=30993"},"modified":"2009-01-30T11:54:25","modified_gmt":"2009-01-30T18:54:25","slug":"music-series-you-owe-me-my-wages-and-migrant-workers-blood-and-sweat-asking-for-unpaid-wages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/01\/music-series-you-owe-me-my-wages-and-migrant-workers-blood-and-sweat-asking-for-unpaid-wages\/","title":{"rendered":"Music Series: “You Owe Me My Wages” and “Migrant Workers’ Blood and Sweat – Asking for Unpaid Wages”"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following song \u201cYou Owe Me My Wages\u201d was composed and sung by Shi Yong, an Internet musician, after he saw many posts about migrant workers asking for their back wages. Shi said that he wanted to stand up for the weak.<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/div>\n

Lyrics translated by CDT:<\/p>\n

Cuihua (his wife\u2019s name), mom and dad, I won\u2019t go back home for the Spring Festival<\/a>,
\nWithout wages in my pocket, I cannot face you all
\nSon and daughter, don\u2019t ask me where the
red envelopes<\/a> are
\nI cry to the heaven and to the earth but where can I complain?<\/p>\n

Why the boss himself has a luxurious life but has no money to pay the wages?
\nHe has no reason to be so proud even when he drives a BMW or Mercedes because that\u2019s what he owes us.
\nRepay my wages, Repay my wages <\/p>\n

We are thousands of miles from home
\nWe work so hard in the cities
\nWe are from Shaanxi, Shandong, Sichuan, Hubei and Anhui
\nWe build the high-rise buildings but we are ironically looked down on
\nWe are not paid and there is nothing we can do about it.
\nI ask myself whether there is any justice and I calm myself down
\nI persuade myself that I am the creditor and that\u2019s no doubt
\nYou owe me, You owe me\u2026<\/p>\n

Another rap song is named \u201cMigrant Workers\u2019 Blood and Sweat—Asking for back wages\u201d
\nComposer\/singer: Xiao Chao<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to see the video<\/p>\n

Lyrics translated by CDT:<\/p>\n

I had a hard life in the mountain area
\nI needed to wait for my hen to lay eggs in exchange for cigarettes
\nOne day I left the mountain with my uncle
\nI worked very hard in the construction site and earned six thousand yuan within a year
\nI was waiting for the pay and planned to spend the Spring Festival with my family
\nHowever, the boss said he was out of money and let me wait
\nAfter the third snow, the boss still didn\u2019t pay me<\/p>\n

He said he had no money to pay but he spent several thousand yuan to play Mahjong
\nHe said he had no money to pay but he spent ten thousand yuan to get his mistress a new cell phone<\/p>\n

People in the labor department were very warmhearted and they kept calling the boss until he powered off the cell phone
\nThe boss said he was very angry because we sued him and he even threatened us
\nThe Labor Department let me report it to the court
\nThe court said it would process the case for us after New Year
\nWe waited till then and the court did process the case
\nBut the boss had run away with our wages<\/p>\n

He said he had no money to pay but he spent several thousand yuan to play Mahjong
\nHe said he had no money to pay but he spent ten thousand yuan to get his second mistress a necklace<\/p>\n

Please check previous related posts below via CDT:
\n
Slideshow: New Year and New Unpaid Migrant Workers<\/a>
\n
Photo Series: Who Is Gonna Take Responsibility for 150 Million Unpaid Migrant Workers?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following song \u201cYou Owe Me My Wages\u201d was composed and sung by Shi Yong, an Internet musician, after he saw many posts about migrant workers asking for their back wages. Shi said that he wanted to stand up for the weak. Lyrics translated by CDT: Cuihua (his wife\u2019s name), mom and dad, I won\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[99,7,5,4202],"tags":[275,21,4457,276,3257],"class_list":["post-30993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cdt-highlights","category-information-revolution","category-society","category-translation","tag-migrant-workers","tag-music","tag-songs","tag-unpaid-wages","tag-videos","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nMusic Series: "You Owe Me My Wages" and "Migrant Workers' Blood and Sweat - Asking for Unpaid Wages"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/01\/music-series-you-owe-me-my-wages-and-migrant-workers-blood-and-sweat-asking-for-unpaid-wages\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Music Series: "You Owe Me My Wages" and "Migrant Workers' Blood and Sweat - Asking for Unpaid Wages"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The following song \u201cYou Owe Me My Wages\u201d was composed and sung by Shi Yong, an Internet musician, after he saw many posts about migrant workers asking for their back wages. Shi said that he wanted to stand up for the weak. Lyrics translated by CDT: Cuihua (his wife\u2019s name), mom and dad, I won\u2019t […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/01\/music-series-you-owe-me-my-wages-and-migrant-workers-blood-and-sweat-asking-for-unpaid-wages\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"China Digital Times (CDT)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-01-10T19:48:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2009-01-30T18:54:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"186\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"177\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sophia Cao\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cdt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cdt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sophia Cao\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/01\/music-series-you-owe-me-my-wages-and-migrant-workers-blood-and-sweat-asking-for-unpaid-wages\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/01\/music-series-you-owe-me-my-wages-and-migrant-workers-blood-and-sweat-asking-for-unpaid-wages\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sophia Cao\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/person\/5b2d6c1a594a286ac9fe4edd802b76aa\"},\"headline\":\"Music Series: “You Owe Me My Wages” and “Migrant Workers’ Blood and Sweat – Asking for Unpaid Wages”\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-01-10T19:48:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-01-30T18:54:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/01\/music-series-you-owe-me-my-wages-and-migrant-workers-blood-and-sweat-asking-for-unpaid-wages\/\"},\"wordCount\":543,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"migrant workers\",\"music\",\"songs\",\"unpaid wages\",\"videos\"],\"articleSection\":[\"CDT Highlights\",\"Information Revolution\",\"Society\",\"Translation\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/01\/music-series-you-owe-me-my-wages-and-migrant-workers-blood-and-sweat-asking-for-unpaid-wages\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/01\/music-series-you-owe-me-my-wages-and-migrant-workers-blood-and-sweat-asking-for-unpaid-wages\/\",\"name\":\"Music Series: \\\"You Owe Me My Wages\\\" and \\\"Migrant Workers' Blood and Sweat - Asking for Unpaid Wages\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-01-10T19:48:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-01-30T18:54:25+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/01\/music-series-you-owe-me-my-wages-and-migrant-workers-blood-and-sweat-asking-for-unpaid-wages\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/01\/music-series-you-owe-me-my-wages-and-migrant-workers-blood-and-sweat-asking-for-unpaid-wages\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/01\/music-series-you-owe-me-my-wages-and-migrant-workers-blood-and-sweat-asking-for-unpaid-wages\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Music Series: “You Owe Me My Wages” and “Migrant Workers’ Blood and Sweat – Asking for Unpaid Wages”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/\",\"name\":\"China Digital Times (CDT)\",\"description\":\"Covering China from Cyberspace\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization\",\"name\":\"China Digital Times\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.jpg\",\"width\":186,\"height\":177,\"caption\":\"China Digital Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/cdt\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/person\/5b2d6c1a594a286ac9fe4edd802b76aa\",\"name\":\"Sophia Cao\",\"description\":\"Sophia Cao is an undergraduate business student at Baruch College in New York. She is interested in Chinese culture and contemporary art, with a particular emphasis on multimedia.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/author\/sophia-cao\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Music Series: \"You Owe Me My Wages\" and \"Migrant Workers' Blood and Sweat - Asking for Unpaid Wages\"","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/01\/music-series-you-owe-me-my-wages-and-migrant-workers-blood-and-sweat-asking-for-unpaid-wages\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Music Series: \"You Owe Me My Wages\" and \"Migrant Workers' Blood and Sweat - Asking for Unpaid Wages\"","og_description":"The following song \u201cYou Owe Me My Wages\u201d was composed and sung by Shi Yong, an Internet musician, after he saw many posts about migrant workers asking for their back wages. Shi said that he wanted to stand up for the weak. Lyrics translated by CDT: Cuihua (his wife\u2019s name), mom and dad, I won\u2019t […]","og_url":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/01\/music-series-you-owe-me-my-wages-and-migrant-workers-blood-and-sweat-asking-for-unpaid-wages\/","og_site_name":"China Digital Times (CDT)","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes","article_published_time":"2009-01-10T19:48:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2009-01-30T18:54:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":186,"height":177,"url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Sophia Cao","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@cdt","twitter_site":"@cdt","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sophia Cao","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/01\/music-series-you-owe-me-my-wages-and-migrant-workers-blood-and-sweat-asking-for-unpaid-wages\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/01\/music-series-you-owe-me-my-wages-and-migrant-workers-blood-and-sweat-asking-for-unpaid-wages\/"},"author":{"name":"Sophia Cao","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/person\/5b2d6c1a594a286ac9fe4edd802b76aa"},"headline":"Music Series: “You Owe Me My Wages” and “Migrant Workers’ Blood and Sweat – Asking for Unpaid Wages”","datePublished":"2009-01-10T19:48:15+00:00","dateModified":"2009-01-30T18:54:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/01\/music-series-you-owe-me-my-wages-and-migrant-workers-blood-and-sweat-asking-for-unpaid-wages\/"},"wordCount":543,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization"},"keywords":["migrant workers","music","songs","unpaid wages","videos"],"articleSection":["CDT Highlights","Information Revolution","Society","Translation"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/01\/music-series-you-owe-me-my-wages-and-migrant-workers-blood-and-sweat-asking-for-unpaid-wages\/","url":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/01\/music-series-you-owe-me-my-wages-and-migrant-workers-blood-and-sweat-asking-for-unpaid-wages\/","name":"Music Series: \"You Owe Me My Wages\" and \"Migrant Workers' Blood and Sweat - Asking for Unpaid Wages\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-01-10T19:48:15+00:00","dateModified":"2009-01-30T18:54:25+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/01\/music-series-you-owe-me-my-wages-and-migrant-workers-blood-and-sweat-asking-for-unpaid-wages\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/01\/music-series-you-owe-me-my-wages-and-migrant-workers-blood-and-sweat-asking-for-unpaid-wages\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/01\/music-series-you-owe-me-my-wages-and-migrant-workers-blood-and-sweat-asking-for-unpaid-wages\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Music Series: “You Owe Me My Wages” and “Migrant Workers’ Blood and Sweat – Asking for Unpaid Wages”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#website","url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/","name":"China Digital Times (CDT)","description":"Covering China from Cyberspace","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization","name":"China Digital Times","url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.jpg","width":186,"height":177,"caption":"China Digital Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes","https:\/\/x.com\/cdt"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/person\/5b2d6c1a594a286ac9fe4edd802b76aa","name":"Sophia Cao","description":"Sophia Cao is an undergraduate business student at Baruch College in New York. She is interested in Chinese culture and contemporary art, with a particular emphasis on multimedia.","sameAs":["http:\/\/"],"url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/author\/sophia-cao\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30993\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}