nong (4) min (1) gong (1)

In a class yesterday, I was teaching the words "overpaid" and "underpaid". The students when discussing the word "underpaid" taught me a popular Chinese word: nong min gong (the tones are in the title). Non min gong are farmer workers. That is, they are peasants who come to the cities to make extra money. Apparently, they are underpaid. (This ties in with that recent City Journal article I liked in a previous entry).