In pictures: A day in the life of Wenzhou

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One of the many Chinese cities helping to transform the national and world economies is Wenzhou. Many outside China may not even have heard of the city, in coastal Zhejiang province, but it is undergoing fast growth and a retail boom.

In the old city the back streets are lined with hundreds of small garment shops while local businessmen lead the investment in large factories exporting goods to rest of the world.

Photographer Alex Hofford spent 24 hours capturing the life of its inhabitants.

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A migrant worker walks past a giant billboard advertising women's cosmetic products.

About three million of the seven and a half million residents of Wenzhou are migrant workers from other poorer provinces.

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One migrant worker, Cao Yun Xia, 22, from Jiangxi province works at the Zhejiang Pasteur Garment factory. "I make over 2000 RMB a month ($250) so I consider my salary to be very good," she says.

Many of the suits are re-branded with the Verri label and exported to Italy.

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The shoe recycling facility in Nanbaixiang, outside Wenzhou, is one of the largest in China, with shoes arriving by the truckload from all over the country.

Xie Yu-bing heats rubber shoe soles so that the remaining upper sole can be easily ripped away using a pair of tongs. The rubber is then recycled.

He says: "I earn 30 RMB a day ($3.74) doing this work. I don't worry too much about the burning rubber fumes, but I am looking for another job".

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Mrs Zhang, 68, sorts waste plastics into different piles at a trash collection and recycling area on the edge of central Wenzhou.

She says: "I often do not make enough money to eat. I earn no more than 10 RMB ($1.24) per day, sometimes as little as RMB 3 a day."

Her home does have electricity, but her water comes from a well. "Although we know it's polluted, there is nothing we can do," she says.

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As China's middle class grows in number, new ways for them to spend their disposable income are emerging.

Consumerism is sweeping across China, but the spiritual void felt by many has led to an explosion of Yoga clubs in the last couple of years.

This class is run by Indian instructor Ashwary Kadian, who has been in Wenzhou for one year and came to the city to teach. "I make more money here than in India," he says.

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Former rickshaw driver Shi Chun Lan, 43, (R), plays a version of Chinese chess based on military planning and strategy, in a park in the centre of Wenzhou.

His life has been transformed by the booming economy.

I own a four floor building on Five Horses Street which I let out as different units, some retail, some residential.

I can now collect around 1,000,000 RMB a year ($125,000) in rent from that building, which is about a hundred times more than I could collect 10 years ago."

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Zhang Juhua, 42, from Hubei province, a worker in the Wenzhou Fortor Lingerie factory sorts white brassieres that have passed quality control into piles ready to be packed into boxes and sent to a major high street brand in Italy. She says life is better in Wenzhou than in her native Hubei province as "Wenzhou has more factories and it is easier to find a job here.

"Also the pay is higher and the living conditions, like the food we eat and the environment, are better here".

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The Sharmoon factory makes suits for the European and US high street outlets of Zegna, Versace and Armani.

The factory is growing and a portion of last years' profits were re-invested in new equipment and the upgrading of the company's IT systems. It's possible to buy an identical suit in a Sharmoon shop to those being produced and exported for a number of designer brands - only the label is different.

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Traffic passes a billboard advertising a new shopping mall being built in Shanghai in the shape of the US Department of Defense Headquarters, the Pentagon. The property market in Wenzhou has been hot in recent years, but mirroring the Shanghai market, it is now supposedly cooling off.

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Mr Zhu Feng, 64, a long-time resident of Wenzhou indicates the spot where his home used to be before its forced demolition earlier this year, on a piece of land in an old industrial area near the centre of Wenzhou.

"I'm still living with my daughter and waiting for my compensation," says an angry Mr Zhu.

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Two rickshaws wait for customers outside a KFC restaurant.

Fast food is very popular in China, and many branches of KFC and McDonalds are springing up all over Wenzhou.

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As night draws in the residents of Wenzhou perform mass aerobics to the sound of Chinese techno music in a city park.

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The Pop Storm Disco club plays a heady mixture of cutting edge dance music from Europe.

The preferred drink is whisky with
a green tea mixer. On every table are huge bowls of fruit. Giant birthday cakes, fancy dress, lasers and scantily clad exotic dancers keep the punters entertained.

Women outnumber the men by two to one.