HAIKOU, Aug 31 (AP) -- Construction workers drawn to China's tropical island of Hainan by its latest building boom are recycling the half-finished shells of office towers left from the collapse of the last boom as dormitories.

In the concrete hulk of one 17-story tower, about 100 people -- construction workers and their families -- have set up house across the street from the building project where they are working.

Their quarters are better-equipped than the lodgings of the average Chinese migrant laborer, with electricity and running water supplied by the construction company.

The workers, migrants from the mainland, built bamboo partitions to create dormitory rooms with bunk beds and a kitchen and dining area. Sleeping areas are divided by the home regions of the workers who live there.

The workers said they are paid up to 1,500 yuan (US$185; euro150) a month -- a high wage in China, where the average urban worker makes about 8,000 yuan (US$1,000; euro800) a year.

The concrete hulk that is their new home has been outfitted with showers and a small shop that sells cigarettes and snacks. Nylon awnings set up in the roofless lobby protect against the torrential tropical rains.

By contrast, many Chinese who move to cities in search of jobs often find themselves living in converted shipping cartons or lean-tos made of scavenged lumber and bricks.

Haikou, the capital of Hainan, is known throughout China for its unusual skyline of half-finished office and apartment towers left behind after a building boom in the mid-1990s ended almost overnight.

In some cases, only the first few floors of a building were finished, leaving the bare concrete skeleton of the upper levels jutting into the sky.