Bang Bang Workers

In the hour before dawn, the poor district of Qiansimen, Chongqing has a distinctly Dickensian feel. With the rain lashing down, puddles fill the dark, narrow alleys, flanked on either side by tall, ramshackle tenements. An old man's wrinkled face glows orange as he warms himself over a brazier.

Nestling between the port and the commercial centre, this area is the home of Chongqing's most distinctive and traditional population - the bangbang army, a 100,000-strong crew of porters who bear the city's weights on their shoulders. Arriving from the countryside with no skills and minimal education, they pick up the cheapest of tools - a bamboo pole (or bang bang) and some rope - and hang around the docks, the markets and the bus stations waiting for goods to carry up the steep slopes of this mountain port.

Yu Lebo has just woken up in the cramped three-room apartment that he and his wife share with three other couples, all of whom are porters or cleaners or odd-job men. There are two double beds in one room, separated by a thin sheet, a third in a tiny room next door and another in the kitchen. There is no time for breakfast before he heads out into the rain and the dark. "We want to move out and get a place of our own, but we don't have the money yet," he says once we are outside. He explains why he came to Chongqing four years ago. "I used to be a farmer, but I could not afford to raise my two children. So we left them behind with relatives. I see them two or three times a year."

On an average day, Yu earns about 20 yuan (£1.50) for 12 hours work. Most of this, and the money his wife earns as a cleaner, goes on rent and food, but as long as they stay healthy they can save enough to send money home to buy clothes and books for their children. It is vital. Education and health care - free in the days of Mao Zedong - are now the biggest burden on peasants.

The first job of the day is in the Chaotianmen market, where Yu must carry several huge bundles of goods. Each is probably heavier than Yu, who weighs just over 50kg. The stallholder pays him 2 yuan (15p). "Not bad," Yu says. "Sometimes they are heavier. Sometimes we get paid less."

It looks exhausting. Does Yu ever regret coming to the city? "No, my life is a little better than it was when I first got here. Then, I only earned 10 yuan a day. This city is changing so fast. It is getting richer. But our lives are not keeping up. Cities are good for the rich. If you have money you can do anything. If you don't want to carry something, you just hire a bangbang man."