Last week, Singapore-based Initium Media (端傳媒) published an intimate portrait of Old Liu (老劉), a laid-off worker from northeast China’s Jilin province who has spent the past eleven years living illegally in Paris and selling dumplings — all the time dreaming of residency. The deeply reported piece by writer “Liuting” traces Old Liu’s journey from factory closures in Jilin to subway stations across the French capital, where he carries ten-kilogram bags of dumplings to customers while dodging immigration authorities. Through vivid details and Liu’s own voice, the narrative weaves together the personal costs of economic migration and sometimes hostile immigration policies with broader themes of displacement and survival in Europe’s underground economy. “We bottom-dwellers are like underground rats, scurrying around everywhere to make a living,” Liu says in the story, reflecting on his experiences.
