The Kong family are typical mingong. The mother, Kong er Xiang,works as maid («ai») in Shanghai where she shares an apartment with eight other mingong. She earns 2000 yuan -around 200 euros- a month; working every day. Her husband Xi Pin, is a construction worker, on the site with no days off from four in the morning to four in the afternoon. He earns 1500-1800 yuan (150-180 euros) a month. He sleeps at his workplace, in a dormitory. In the village of Fan Wa, in An Hui province, their daughter, fifteen, lives all year-long with her grandmother, not seeing her parents.