MEET COCO, A material girl in a material world. Created by Hong Kong designer Alan Chan Yau-kin as the emblem for Shenzhen's newest shopping centre, Coco is pitched at the young migrant woman.
'She's got money, she's got time, she's got different boyfriends, and she's got ideas of her own,' says Wilson Shen, Coco Park's marketing director, who recently held a contest to select a girl to represent the mall. 'She's the quintessential Shenzhen girl.'
It's a shrewd marketing strategy. Women migrants have been a driving force in Shenzhen's growth since the industrial boomtown was established in 1980. And their role is gaining recognition, with the local women's federation announcing, for the first time, cash awards and help with gaining residency permits for 100 'excellent' female migrants, earlier this month.
But while Coco may represent easy money and fast times, it's been a far bumpier ride for the millions of women who headed to Shenzhen dreaming of a better life. Work conditions in factories were often grim and wages exploitative. Other jobs were little better. Many hailing from poor, rural towns, the women also had to deal with culture shock and, despite the socialist slogan of women holding up half the sky, considerable discrimination.
'Sexual discrimination is severe,' says Ke Jianting, a Chinese language professor and gender studies researcher at Zhongshan University in Guangzhou. 'There are no laws regulating this in employment. Shenzhen's business culture can be cutthroat and there's often no limit to the means people use.'
Pipa player Li Fuyin arrived from a small town in Guizhou province 10 years ago in search of better opportunities, but found little demand for her musical skills in Shenzhen. Office jobs offered minimal pay and poor prospects, and it was a struggle to stay off the streets.