Back at his original Shijiazhuang jean factory, Zhen Bo worked six days a week, eight hours a day. He used to go out with friends after taking off work at 4 pm in Shijiazhuang, doing some shopping or eating. Now in Foshan all his leisure time is spent sleeping and he rarely has any time to go out.

But Zhen believes it's worth it. Youth and a healthy body is the only thing he can pay for a brighter future. "I have calculated. I earned 44 yuan per hour back in Shijiazhuang, but the factories had too many penalties. Often you have to pay a 5 for 10 yuan fine for any small quality problems. Here I can make 150 yuan a day. Plus there are seldom fines."

Things are getting better. Though in Foshan, Zhen has to work 12 hours a day, seven days a week with one day off a month, occasionally he can also enjoy some national holidays. This year, he and his colleagues took one day off work for the Dragon Boat Festival, which they never would have expected in the past. "The boss has to let us take one day off work, otherwise, the government will punish the company," he says.

But what is more important to Zhen is that the working environment is improving.

"The machines are imported from Hong Kong. They are much better than a few years ago," he emphasized. By "better" Zhen not only means they are more efficient, but also do less harm to workers.

A few years ago in many textile factories exposure to toxic materials was widespread. Many factories used toxic chemical materials to dye jeans, and inhaling the fumes was harmful. But many of them had to work in such an environment as long as 16 hours a day and received no compensation.

According to Zhen, the new machines greatly reduce workers' exposure to toxic materials. "There is much more space for one machine to operate now. And people are separated from the harmful working space."

Actually, most of the hundreds of factories in the Pearl River and Yangtze River deltas' manufacturing parks have made changes in environmental protection and improved laborers' working conditions due to increased pressure from employees and the government in the past few years.