In 2010, 34% of rural migrant workers left their factory jobs to move back home, according to the most recent data available from the Rural-Urban Migration in China and Indonesia project at Australian National University.

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In Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing, dozens of cases have emerged among migrant labourers returning to their rural homes from the capital.

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It used to be that migrant workers would come from the more rural areas of Brazil during harvest season and essentially live at the mill for the season, using the old slash-and-burn technique to harvest the sugarcane.

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The World Bank says that rural wages (outside farms) fell by almost a fifth between 2007 and 2009 as migrant workers fled to their villages in search of jobs.

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In addition, rising migrant wages and higher farm-gate prices have led to a 13.7 percent increase in real rural incomes and 16.8 percent increase in rural retail sales during the first half of 2011, CLSA says.

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Life in Beijing is much better than back in rural Hebei, says Li: his wages cover the family's rent, tuition for the underground school for migrant children that his kids attend, as well as the odd night of karaoke.

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