In the predawn hours, some workers rushed out of their factory dormitories and commandeered company trucks to rush to Tiananmen Square to protect the students.

"The printers have to stay in the factory dormitories after the test is printed," he said.

"We're just doing the painting," says Li Hong, a 22-year-old factory worker who was sitting out in front of the factory dormitories.

She and Ms. Du live in factory dormitories and say they rarely venture out.

Less than two days after the incident, Sun lept out of the window of his factory dormitory to his death.

About six million of these people are migrant workers who return home on the weekends and live in factory dormitories during the week.

For several months, she was the only woman in a factory dormitory, before finding herself a log hut and a job as a night guard at a truck yard.

In the fish cannery where Rashida works, almost 50 women live in the squalid factory dormitory.

Traditionally, young girls who wish to work lived in factory dormitories and send their wages home to their family.

Living frugally, often in factory dormitories, workers often manage to save as much as $1,500 a month.