It's life as usual for Time's bees

SHENZHEN: The spotlight is on them, and it seems a bit intrusive now, says Xiao Hongxia, the 31-year-old manufacturing manager who, along with co-workers, was asked to represent the ubiquitous Chinese Worker - one of four runners-up in Time magazine's Person of the Year shortlist.

Xiao says she has started to turn down requests from the media for interviews after accepting dozens over the weekend.

"We are really just ordinary workers. We were extremely flattered after the media carried so many reports about us," Xiao said. But, "we want to focus on our jobs as usual and don't want to be disturbed by the media any more," she said.