"Sex just once a week is totally unbearable." That was the title of a letter dated June 27 that was sent to the Nanfang Dushi Bao (Southern Metropolis Daily), a popular newspaper in Shenzhen, a boom town in south China's Guangdong Province that is built on the shoulders of countless migrant workers.

The letter, signed by over 30 disgruntled migrant factory workers, all married men in their 20s and early 30s, expresses their dissatisfaction with factory rules that restrict the men from having regular contact with their wives.

Factory rules give married employees only one day off a week.

"We are legally bound to our wives and our marriages are protected by the law," said Chen Qiang, who drew up the letter of complaint on behalf of all the married men working for the Taiwan-funded factory.

He added: "They also run counter to the country's marriage and employment laws."

"We just want healthy family and sex lives. The factory ruthlessly deprives us of these, which are our basic rights," Chen said. "Most of the married workers came to the city with their loved ones," he added.

There are a total of 300 migrant workers in the factory where Chen works and about 30 are married. Those who are married and whose partners live in the city are allowed one day off every week. Unmarried workers are given only two days off a month.

It used to be that married workers, too, were only given two days off a month. But, the rules changed after much protest from workers.

Chen's wife, who works in another factory, lives in a rented single-room flat near Chen's factory. This is where the two meet just once a week.

"I'm worried about my wife spending the whole night alone in the room," complained Chen. "We have sex only once a week, which depresses me."

Rigid, bordering cruel, rules such as this are very common in privately owned factories concerned only with cashing in on migrant workers' hard work while having little concern about their welfare.

The boss of the factory declined to comment.

Shenzhen last year initiated a "love nest" program leasing cheap rooms to couples.

(China Daily July 1, 2005)