No paycheck, no triumphant homecoming

While China's millions of migrant workers build railways, skyscrapers and stadiums for the country, many of them find it difficult to claim delayed paychecks.

Wage disputes have swelled ahead of lunar New Year which falls on Feb. 19 this year, when many of the country's 270 million migrants make pilgrimages home for family reunions.

After a whole year of hard work, some migrants -- usually low-paid manual laborers -- find themselves empty-handed, and have to start an unwelcome chase for unpaid wages.

PAPER CHASE

After 89 days of waiting in the Beijing winter, construction worker Liu Shaowen and another 114 colleagues received delayed wages of about 2.3 million yuan (370,000 US dollars) on the last day of 2014.

"I just want to buy a ticket and go home," Liu said, crying as he grasped his cheque for 18,000 yuan.

Liu worked on a construction site in the capital's Chaoyang District from early March to September and when the project was complete, they were told that "the building is illegal" and the contractor was nowhere to be found.

"We knew neither the company's name nor the contractor's home address," Liu said. "The only thing we could do was wait."

But the wait was long and bitter.

Some gave up and went home. The remaining 87 stayed but were thrown out of their on-site dormitories with only their meager personal belongings. Penniless, they slept on the streets or in underpasses. During cold nights, they huddled together under quilts.

"We tried the district government, and were told to file a lawsuit, but we had no contract nor did we have any money," Liu said, but they were luckier than many others when their story was picked up by the media.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE

Liu's case is not an isolated one.