Second generation
Xu's parents were among the first generation of rural workers who left their farms to work on assembly lines or construction sites in coastal cities. That generation is about to retire.
When Xu replaced his parents as part of the second generation of migrant workers, he refused to repeat their dull lives.
"Working in factories means you are more or less chained to production lines. You punch in, punch out, and repeat the same cycle the next day. I just can't help asking, 'What's the point of living a life like that?'" he said.
He ended up signing up at Longhua's "Sanhe dashen club" as an "on call" worker, but he threw away five years, lost and paralyzed by guilt.
"By the time I realized I could not do that anymore, it was already the winter of 2015. I fled Sanhe and found a full-time job in Shangtang, putting an end to that unbearable existence," he said.
Fang, the Longhua resident, noted how the unemployed stand out in the city. "In Shenzhen's congested and hyperactive urban environment, it can be mind-boggling to see the likes of Sanhe dashen living in such a hyperpassive way," he said.
"The strange and scrappy underground world of Sanhe bears little resemblance to Shenzhen with which we have long been familiar. There's no shortage of residents who have lived in Longhua for years but have never heard of Sanhe. What's happening in Sanhe sounds like a tale of two cities," he added.
"A key chapter of the story is the wealth gap," he said. "Just a street away from Sanhe labor marketplace, you can find my residence, which is called Longteng Garden. It stands by a small patch of tile-roofed houses, and is an urban slum recognizable to almost every Longhua dweller at first sight. Two blocks away, there's a high-end residence called Jinxiu Yuyuan, located next to a swathe of 'handshake' buildings - concrete blocks in urban villages that are so close to one another that neighbors can virtually touch each other's hands from within."
Yang Wancheng, who runs the Shuangfeng Noodle Restaurant said: "There are plenty of decent young people coming here with dreams of landing plum jobs. But, the weak-minded fall prey to laziness and end up as so-called dashen."
He urged those who rely on his eatery for three cheap meals a day to seriously look for work. However, he probably won't see them make the change because a redevelopment plan is in place.
Vanke, one of China's largest real estate developers which is based in Shenzhen, plans to use the area as a testing ground for long-term rental apartments, with rents ranging from 2,000 to 4,000 yuan a month - well beyond the reach of most migrant workers.
