Beijing ---- A recent Chinese blockbuster ( 轰动的作品) “A World Without Thieves” is based on the experiences of a young migrant worker carrying 60,000 yuan on a train packed with thieves. But while the image of a warm-hearted but somewhat naive migrant worker may have made film fans chuckle, it’s a sure bet that most of China’s migrant workers are yet to step into a cinema to admire it. “Forty yuan a ticket? I can’t afford it,” said Shen Jie, a migrant worker at a construction site in Dongzhimen, east Beijing. Shen found it hard to remember when he last watched a film, or what it was about. “It must be 10 years ago,” he said. Though they are the builders of the nation’s theaters and cinemas, a limited cultural life is common among China’s 120 million migrant workers. Shen arrived from East China’s Zhejiang Province in1991. Life was better then; money seemed to come more easily. “Now, as more and more workers are rushing to the capital, it’s too hard to earn money, and none of us dare think about watching films,” he said. For many like Shen, the dream is earning enough to pay for their children’s education so they can find jobs in the cities and say goodbye to the hardships of rural life forever. This drives them to work hard and save as much as possible. With a monthly salary of less than 500 yuan, Shen has to send money home to his little son and silver-haired parents. In Shen’s small dormitory, which he shares with seven other co-workers, there is a well-thumbed copy of a magazine published in 1998. A recent survey by local media revealed that 80 percent of migrant workers spent their spare time sleeping and chatting because of exhaust and a lack of income. The same survey found that 47 percent of migrant workers have to work for more than 10 hours a day. Around 40 percent do not even possess a book, and nearly 60 percent say they are dissatisfied with their cultural life. Like many of Shen’s co-workers, reading newspapers and hanging out in Beijing’s streets provide evening entertainment.