Scratching out a living among the tall reeds

Documentary highlights toil of migrant workers harvesting Hunan's marshes

As cold winds rustle through the thousands of hectares of reeds around Luhu Lake in Yiyang, Hunan province, a group of migrant workers work their way through the marshes armed with sickles.

The itinerant reed cutters live in abandoned houses and work from dawn until dusk, as they try to pocket between 100 ($15) and 200 yuan a day to support their poverty-stricken families.