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Near Beijing's $600 million Olympic stadium, migrant worker Ye Yiwen, her husband and two children cram into a tiny underground room, sheltering from the Chinese capital's biting winter and soaring property prices.
Ye's family left behind a 200-square-metre (2,150 square feet) house in a rural outpost 1,000 kilometres (621 miles) away to live in the dimly-lit basement, which -- at 10 square metres -- has just enough space for two beds and one table.
"Of course the house in our old village is more comfortable, but this is where the work is," said Ye, who declined to give her real name.
"And I do miss my flowers," she added with resignation.
The decades-long movement of hundreds of millions of people from China's countryside to its cities is the greatest human migration in history, but those who make the journey do not necessarily find prosperity at their destinations.
About 281,000 people live underground in Beijing according to city authorities, although reports say closer to one million inhabit the capital's basements, former air raid shelters and other subterranean dwellings.
The "Rat Tribe", as they are dubbed locally, are mainly poor migrant workers seeking new opportunities in China's booming cities.
"Of course the house in our old village is more comfortable, but this is where the work is," said Ye, who declined to give her real name.
"And I do miss my flowers," she added with resignation.
The decades-long movement of hundreds of millions of people from China's countryside to its cities is the greatest human migration in history, but those who make the journey do not necessarily find prosperity at their destinations.
About 281,000 people live underground in Beijing according to city authorities, although reports say closer to one million inhabit the capital's basements, former air raid shelters and other subterranean dwellings.
The "Rat Tribe", as they are dubbed locally, are mainly poor migrant workers seeking new opportunities in China's booming cities.
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