Li Ting, editor with the Beijing publishing company dubbed New Knowledge, said Zhou's writing was realistic and authentic.

"It is the reason why the on-line version attracted thousands of readers. We'd like to provide a platform for more readers to understand real lives of migrant workers," Li said.

"The novel indicates the current generation of migrant worker are no longer a silent group,"said Hu Rong, professor of Sociology Department of Xiamen University in Xiamen, a coastal city in Fujian.

"Zhou is one of second-generation migrant workers who are better educated and more skilled, living in a society that has been developing rapidly since the 1980s. His writing represents the voice of the new generation," Hu said.