With a mask to protect himself from the heat, Shi Jiliang stares intently at a thermometer as he adjusts a valve on a candy-making machine every couple of minutes.

An ordinary worker at a candy factory in Zouping County in east China's Shandong Province, Shi works in 40 degree Celsius heat as he decolorizes liquid sugar with active carbon.

"It was much hotter before," said Shi, 42. "Since they improved the ventilation, working conditions have been better."

"I am content now because I can enjoy air conditioning and the factory has raised my pay by 380 yuan (about US$57) a month," he said.

After the pay rise, he earns a monthly salary of about 3,000 yuan (US$450).

Like Shi, hundreds of millions of Chinese workers are quietly supporting China's rapidly economic growth, and even propelling the world economic recovery.

Their hard work and fortitude has once again attracted the world's attention, with US magazine The SmartMoney choosing Chinese workers as one of the "World's Most Influential Players" in 2010 along with renowned figures like Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

As a group, Chinese workers were selected as TIME's 2009 Person of the Year.

Analysts say Chinese workers have become an important part of China's national image with their contribution to the world economic recovery.

Yuan Gangming, a researcher at the Center for China in the World Economy at prestigious Tsinghua University, said the focus on Chinese workers reflects China's increased global influence and its rapid economic development.

"A major part of the Chinese economy's impact on the world comes from 'Made in China' products, which are the made by Chinese workers," Yuan said.

Cheap labor has long been the advantage of Chinese enterprises, with Chinese workers' wages about 10 percent of the operating costs of domestic and overseas companies, according to a July study by the Institute of Fiscal Science under the Ministry of Finance.

Official statistics show that China's current labor costs are only two times higher than they were in 1995, while per capita productivity has increased five-fold during the same period.

"China has the best workers in the world. They have the special ability to endure hardship," said Yang Wonjun, general manager of the Qingdao New Century Tool Co., Ltd., a Korean-funded company in Qingdao City, Shandong Province.

"When we began building our plant in the winter of 2001, our workers braved the cold and leveled the ground with shovels. None of the Chinese workers complained even though the weather was freezing and the work arduous," Yang recalled. "It may not have been possible in Korea."

Chinese workers' ability to accept low salaries and poor working conditions might not last for long though. Many of them demanded higher pay and better conditions in dozens of strikes earlier this year.

The Chinese government has also moved to raise minimum wage levels, increasing them by about a quarter this year to boost domestic consumption.

Some economists have recommended pay rises for Chinese workers, as such a move can help reduce China's trade surplus, having an effect similar to appreciating the Chinese currency, the yuan.

"The pay hikes for Chinese workers will drive China's industrial restructuring and facilitate the upgrading of products made in China," said Professor Bing Zheng, president of the Jilin Provincial Academy of Social Science.

"Chinese workers have become a powerful force, not only because they number hundreds of millions. More importantly, higher pay and better conditions have greatly boosted their enthusiasm for work," he said.

Though there is no recent official data on how many workers China has, some estimate the figure to be around 400 million, with many of them migrant workers.

According to official proposals outlining the country's development plan for the next five years (2011-2015), China will strive to universally raise people's incomes at a relatively fast pace while improving labor productivity.

Lu Xueyi, president of the Chinese Association of Sociology, said China will do more to reform its distribution of income.

Lu also said it will shift the focus of its growth over the next five years, adding that to achieve the goal, China needs harmonious labor-capital relations that will enable enterprises and workers to have shared interests.

"Chinese workers can have their voices better heard when there is a shared-interests mechanism," Lu said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 3, 2010)