ABSTRACT
I had known Shen for more than twenty years, from when we were both cadet reporters in Beijing, when I ran into him in the summer of 2005 in Beijing. He was in his early forties, and was working as a highly successful PR consultant with an American software company in Beijing. Shen speaks perfect English, and has lived overseas numerous times in his life, including a few stints as a visiting fellow at universities in the US. Still single, he considers himself an infinitely eligible bachelor: he owns an expensive car, and a spacious, upscale apartment in a newly developed gated community in the Chaoyang district, in eastern Beijing. When he found out about my research interest in domestic workers, he told me that he employed a local baomu who came once a week for half a day to clean his apartment, do his laundry, and iron his shirts. I asked him what she was like as a person, and how she came to be working as a baomu, and he responded incredulously, “How should I know? I hardly ever see her. She only comes in when I’m at work!”
