A moment in time: Force of change

In the photo from June 1988, a few harvesters are seen in Tianshui in Northwest China's Gansu province, waiting to find seasonal employment. They were part of China's first wave of migrant workers, going across provincial borders to Shaanxi province and the Ningxia Hui autonomous region to reap wheat for others every year.

Contrast that with the photo dated Feb 19, 2016, when a job fair for hundreds of migrant workers is underway in Wuhan, the capital of Central China's Hubei province. Since the reform and opening-up started, the country's labor market has undergone tremendous change. Many of today's workers have received vocational training for multiple skills. Some even get jobs abroad.