Known as a common ingredient in Asian dishes, lotus root is actually the rhizome of a lotus, which is deeply rooted in the mud of a pond. So consequently, there are a number of people in China taking on the job of collecting these delicacies.

A lotus root digger can earn over 10,000 yuan, or around 1,640 US dollars per month in south China's Guangdong Province. However, the high income comes at the cost of their hard work in muddy ponds every day for eight hours.