People working in factories used to be called "blue collar" workers. However, in today's China, " white collar" professionals are taking precedence in many factories as its industry becomes increasingly automated, requiring highly-educated staff.

"White collar" refers to those workers who are well educated with qualified technical skills. They have high pay and enjoy a host of social welfare benefits.

"In my factory, I can get the same salary as the white collars do in companies," said Ling Feng, 30, a worker from Gunagzhou Iron and Steel Group.

Ling, who graduated seven years ago from prestigious Wuhan Science and Technology University in central China, now heads the machinery automation in the factory.

"My major in automation has helped the factory cut its manual labor force by half but increase its annual output from 350,000 tons to 400,000 tons," said Ling.

Ling earns about 4,000 yuan (some 490 US dollars) per month, which is four times as much as an ordinary worker gets in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, one of China's richest provinces in the south.

Besides the high salary, Ling also receive social welfare benefits like retirement, unemployment and medical insurance, housing compensation and regular vacations. "I feel quite at home working for the company, so I think I won't change my job," he said.

According to experts from trade union organizations, a number of highly-educated workers are emerging in factories in comparatively developed cities. They are energetic, younger and have more knowledge and skills than most ordinary workers. Their abilities in creating and renovating techniques can help factories revive and be more competitive. Such workers are new pioneers in the Chinese working class.

In Guangzhou Zhujiang Iron and Steel Group, workers are no longer seen wielding shovels in front of scorching blast furnaces, instead, they sit in cozy air-conditioned rooms, pressing buttons and operating computers. Tons of steel are tapped without using any slight manual labor.

At the production line of Guangzhou Honda Automobile Co., Ltd., a joint venture between the Japanese Honda Group and China's Guangzhou Automobile Group, workers in white overalls assemble parts and control instrument boards. Most of them had received at least three years' education in colleges, according to the company 's manager.

Those workers preferred to be called "employees" rather than " workers", acknowledged Xu Chaoliang, an officer in Guangzhou Zhujiang Iron and Steel Group.

Such "white collar" workers are increasingly prominent not only in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Guangzhou, but also in such industrial cities as Daqing and Shenyang in northeast China's rustbelt, and some other cities in the less developed mid-western region.

Most "white collars" are employed in the fields of communication, medicine, computers, micro-electronics and machinery. A few of them earn 10,000 to 20,000 yuan per month, even more than company employees make.

Nevertheless, "white collar" people are still in short supply nationwide. According to the Guangzhou Municipal Trade Union Federation, Guangzhou now suffers a shortfall of approximately 100, 000 educated workers, but most unemployed workers still cannot cater to the job requirements.

Therefore, training and contests have been held to give workers more opportunities to be acquainted with the advanced up-to-date skills. Some workers have even been given the chances to become share holders.

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