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Almost every toy or tennis shoe you pick up today carries the label “Made in China.” These products come from hundreds of factories on China’s southeastern Pearl River Delta coast. Almost overnight, once-quiet villages have become mega-cities with high-rises and freeways.

The Washington Post reports that China has 160 million workers in manufacturing and mining, nearly 12 times the US total. Some 20 million peasants will enter the urban workforce every year for the next two decades.

But China’s race to riches comes at high cost to both land and people. In the past two decades some 200 million peasants have left farming for factory jobs in the biggest people-movement in history. One southern province has 10 million factory workers. From 4,000 to 10,000 workers at each plant make products ranging from car parts to refrigerators to toys such as Pokemon and stuffed animals that fill Western children’s play rooms. Most workers are women ages 16 to 25 years from rural provinces where there’s no work. They work 13 to 17 hours a day, 6 to 7 days a week, and earn about $50-$75 a month, much of which they send back home to help their struggling families.

Fifteen years ago, Shenzhen, just over the Hong Kong border, was a fishing village surrounded by rice paddies, the BBC reports. Now it’s a city of 7 million, virtually all of them migrants from all over China. These migrant workers live 10 to 15 to a room in on-site dormitories. “As migrants, many of them feel lonely and lost in the city, away from their traditionally close-knit families and way of life,” said Dr. Ben, Partners International’s East Asia area director. Like others in this article, his real name is confidential for security reasons. “What’s more, most of them have grown up without any concept of God,” he said.

Gospel entertainment The church in China is challenged to take a relevant gospel message to those who don’t know Christ. For years Brother J, leader of China Networks, was burdened for factory workers. So members of his group formed teams that performed traditional Chinese dance, mime and music. A factory owner agreed to let Brother J’s group perform for the workers, figuring a little entertainment would be good for them.

Hundreds of workers filled benches on an outdoor basketball court. Women danced in traditional dress. Skits, songs, mimes, more dances and comic drama kept workers cheering and laughing, forgetting their drab lives for a few hours. They related to the funny but too-common skit depicting a married couple’s life in which the husband was doing well until losing his job, the fear of every worker. He started drinking, and life spiraled downward. The story ended with the gospel transforming the family.

Several Christians shared testimonies of Christ’s impact on their lives. They spoke of hope and a life that counts eternally, concepts not a part of post-Mao China. During the two-night event, many workers received Christ. Others came forward for prayer.

Dr. Ben recalled the testimony of one young man, Chang, who responded to the team’s message. Others looked down on Chang’s poor, unsuccessful family. His father almost killed himself. Angry, bitter Chang always carried a knife he flashed and threatened to attack others with so they would respect him. After he was jailed, he tried to slit his wrist. Then someone shared with him the good news of Jesus who loved him and saw him as valuable. Chang accepted Christ, who transformed his low self-esteem. Other Christians encouraged him to work in the factory, where he wanted to tell everyone of God’s love and the great change in his life.

Transformed and productive lives

This story has played out in other factories and provinces. The team frequently rents a bus to take the gospel to other factories. “Many Christian owners of factories have invited our partners to come and help them minister to these tens of thousands of young factory workers,” Dr. Ben said. The factory owners may not be Christians but all welcome “social events” that entertain workers and help raise morale. They know that workers with gospel-transformed lives are more productive. They can be trusted to work, even when unsupervised. Thus, factory productivity rises.

In January 2004, “Joe,” an Australian pastor, took 26 church members on a short-term mission trip to southern China, where they performed in six Christian-owned factories. They hired a local sound system company, which sent Cho to set up and operate the controls during performances. One day after watching the performances Cho told Joe he wanted to become a Christian. “The songs and mimes told me about God’s love, and your team showed me the life of Christian love,” Cho said. “I want Jesus Christ to be my God.”

A church in the government-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Movement invited the Australians to a revival. The pastor expected an audience of 120. Minutes before the performance, four buses arrived with workers from nearby factories. Some Christian owners had heard about the meeting and brought them. More than 400 packed the church that night. At least 50 people trusted Christ.

Ripple effects In a two-year training program started for factory workers who respond to the gospel, trainees learn faith basics and how to effectively share Christ. Several workers quit the factory to plant churches and minister full-time to other workers.

Factory outreach is one of many ways the church seeks to meet the needs of a changing China, but a timely and strategic one. Most factory workers plan to return to their provinces after a few years because it’s hard for rural people to live in tight quarters and do such mundane tasks for more than two or three years. Those who come to Christ will take him with them.

Said Alfred, Partners International assistant area director for East Asia, “Ministry among the tens of thousands of young factory workers in China today is not only strategic, but also a must for a lost generation.”

Lynda Johnson is writer and editor at Partners International in Spokane, Washington.