Talk:Migration in China

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Peer reviewers: Seaplant.

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Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Rchabes, Thor1thor2. Peer reviewers: Miss janae, Tsadowsk, Thor1thor2.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 04:06, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Sourcing
Overall I think this is a pretty solid article. It could primarily benefit from adding more in text citations in the article to improve the overall sourcing of the article. People should be able to trace where every statement/fact presented in the article comes from. Additionally, the article would benefit from additional images and blue links.

Kdumelle13 (talk) — Preceding undated comment added 17:03, 31 March 2014 (UTC)

Immigration
Why does “Immigration to China” redirect here? That's completely unhelpful. LaloMartins (talk) 12:22, 30 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I understand. It was the same for floating population, so I decided to make it a normal article. You should, too. Cheers. ComputerJA (talk) 08:43, 6 November 2011 (UTC)

confusing numbers
I was searching for the total number of migrant workers in china. As the numbers in this article do not point to references I would suggest to take one of the following numbers:

"The total migrant workers[4] in 2011 were 252.78 million, up by 4.4 percent over that of 2010. Of which, the migrant workers leaving hometown and worked in other provinces were 158.63 million, increased by 3.4 percent, the migrant workers worked in local provinces reached 94.15 million, up by 5.9 percent." Reference: National Bureau of Statistics of China (2012): "Statistical Communiqué on the 2011 National Economic and Social Development" http://www.stats.gov.cn/was40/gjtjj_en_detail.jsp?searchword=migrants&channelid=9528&record=3. (beneath figure 3)

I do not just want to change it, as it conflicts with the numbers given in the very first paragraph. Maybe one of the authors could help solve this mystery?

Cheers

Weiida (talk) 09:32, 22 July 2012 (UTC)

As I didn't get feedback, I changed the topic without knowing about the references the author used for the prognosis for 2025. Please change it again, if my correction is contradicting anyhow. Cheers

Weiida (talk) 08:48, 7 August 2012 (UTC)

Major Edits
I'm a student at Rice University, and I was planning on writing a new article entitled "Migrant Workers in China" for a course: Education Program:Rice University/Poverty, Justice, Human Capabilities, Section 2 (Fall 2013)

I had hoped to provide an overview, go over the history and origins, cover major factors, and discuss the different impacts of the phenomenon. I posted in some WikiProjects seeking feedback, and a few wikipedians noted that this article already existed, and there may be some significant overlap of content. My original outline is as follows, and I plan on making some major edits to this article in terms of organization as well as the addition of a significant amount of new content. There are some issues in this article with formatting, unsourced content, as well as a general lack of content with regards to important social issues faced by migrant workers, so I hope to deal with those problems in my edits.

If you have any comments, suggestions, or revisions, please let me know!

1. Overview

2. History and Origins

3. Factors
 * a.   Economic
 * b.	Social
 * c.	Political
 * i.	Hukou
 * ii.	Other

4.	Impact
 * a.	Labor Supply
 * i.	Domestic Work
 * ii.	Factory Work
 * iii.	Sex Work
 * b.	Social
 * i.	Gender Roles
 * ii.	Class
 * iii.	Health
 * iv.	Education
 * v.	Inequality

5.	Theories for the Future

6.	See Also

7.	References

8.	Further Reading

References: Chan, Chris King-Chi, and Pun Ngai. “The Making of a New Working Class? A Study of Collective Actions of Migrant Workers in South China.” The China Quarterly 198 (June 22, 2009): 287. doi:10.1017/S0305741009000319.

Chan, Jenny, and Ngai Pun. “Suicide as Protest for the New Generation of Chinese Migrant Workers: Foxconn, Global Capital, and the State.” The Asia-Pacific Journal 8, no. 37 (2010): 2–10.

Chan, Kam Wing, and Li Zhang. “The Hukou System and Rural-Urban Migration in China: Processes and Changes.” The China Quarterly 160 (1999): 818–855. doi:10.1017/S0305741000001351.

Connelly, Rachel, Kenneth Roberts, and Zhenzhen Zheng. “The Impact of Circular Migration on the Position of Married Women in Rural China.” Feminist Economics 16, no. 1 (2010): 3–41. doi:10.1080/13545700903382752.

Démurger, Sylvie, Marc Gurgand, Shi Li, and Ximing Yue. “Migrants as Second-class Workers in Urban China? A Decomposition Analysis.” Journal of Comparative Economics 37, no. 4 (December 2009): 610–628. doi:10.1016/j.jce.2009.04.008.

Fan, C. Cindy. China on the Move: Migration, the State, and the Household. Routledge, 2008.

Friedman, Eli. “Outside the New China | Jacobin.” Accessed September 26, 2013. http://jacobinmag.com/2013/09/outside-the-new-china/.

Froissart, Chloé. “Review of ‘China on the Move: Migration, the State and the Household’.” The China Quarterly 196 (January 12, 2009): 937. doi:10.1017/S0305741008001409.

Hesketh, Therese, Ye Xue Jun, Li Lu, and Wang Hong Mei. “Health Status and Access to Health Care of Migrant Workers in China.” Public Health Reports 123, no. 2 (2008): 189.

Ichimura, Shinichi. Decentralization Policies in Asian Development. World Scientific, 2008.

Keung Wong, Daniel Fu, Chang Ying Li, and He Xue Song. “Rural Migrant Workers in Urban China: Living a Marginalised Life: Rural Migrant Workers in Urban China.” International Journal of Social Welfare 16, no. 1 (January 2007): 32–40. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2397.2007.00475.x.

Knight, John, Lina Song, and Jia Huaibin. “Chinese Rural Migrants in Urban Enterprises: Three Perspectives.” Journal of Development Studies 35, no. 3 (February 1999): 73–104. doi:10.1080/00220389908422574.

Knight, John, and Linda Yueh. “Job Mobility of Residents and Migrants in Urban China.” Journal of Comparative Economics 32, no. 4 (December 2004): 637–660. doi:10.1016/j.jce.2004.07.004.

Lee, Ching Kwan. “Review of Yan Hairong ‘New Masters, New Servants: Migration, Development and Women Workers in China’.” The China Quarterly 200 (December 16, 2009): 1099. doi:10.1017/S0305741009990713.

Wang, Feng, and Xuejin Zuo. “Inside China’s Cities: Institutional Barriers and Opportunities for Urban Migrants,” n.d.

Wing Chan, Kam, and Will Buckingham. “Is China Abolishing the Hukou System?” The China Quarterly 195 (2008): 582–606. doi:10.1017/S0305741008000787.

Zhao, Yaohui. “Labor Migration and Earnings Differences: The Case of Rural China.” Economic Development and Cultural Change 47, no. 4 (July 1999): 767–782. doi:10.1086/452431.

———. “The Role of Migrant Networks in Labor Migration: The Case of China,” n.d.

Zheng, Tiantian. Red Lights. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2009.

Zhi, Huayong, Zhurong Huang, Jikun Huang, Scott D. Rozelle, and Andrew D. Mason. “Impact of the Global Financial Crisis in Rural China: Gender, Off-farm Employment, and Wages.” Feminist Economics 19, no. 3 (2013): 238–266. doi:10.1080/13545701.2013.809137.

GavinCross (talk) 20:31, 12 October 2013 (UTC)

History
Could anybody who has worked on the History section of this article provide sources for the content? GavinCross (talk) 23:21, 20 October 2013 (UTC)

Peer review 1
First of all, I see some great improvements in this article from when it first started! I love the content that you added and think it really helped make it a lot more comprehensive.

I think that at this point, the article could really improve with improved footnotes in the article. You have over 25 sources, which is great, but there are entire sections, such as "Recent history" and "North Koreans in China" that have absolutely no in-line citations, which in turn causes some questions about the validity of the content and may cause some people to think that the article is a bit biased. Certain sections, notably "Health policies," also have only once source supporting the information, and I think that the article could use some more perspectives to round out the section well.

In general, I would work on the flow of the article. For parts like "Recent history," there is only one or two sentences for each 'paragraph,' which makes it seem very choppy, with only a line or two of information. This is perfectly fine, but I think the article could really improve if you try and transition into different topics within a sub-section better. Deniselee26 (talk) 01:13, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

Peer review 2
Overall, this article is very comprehensive and readable. My primary suggestion is to complete the comprehensiveness of it by adding to the “Foreign and ethnic groups” section. Additionally, I revision of “Recent history”  to improve it’s “flow” would be nice-- it’s a bit choppy now. Third, I think some language might be inaccessible to the common  Wikipedia user, so  it might be a good idea to read through the  article and find some areas where it can be made easier to understand. Finally, addition of a map would be great for those who are not familiar with the geography of China.

Excellent work! Missjenga (talk) 01:53, 7 November 2013 (UTC)

Comment
GavinCross did an excellent job in revising this entry last semester. However, there are three aspects I think can be included/expanded in this entry. First of all, work and working conditions could be added to this entry as an independent section so that people may have a more vivid picture of migrant workers in China. I notice that Gavin initially planned to talk about some main occupations of migrant workers separately as posted on the Talk Page. I think this revision is essential. Secondly, the government and the press have paid much attention to the employers' violation of labor standards/laws and the migrant workers' children left in their hometowns. I think the addition of such information to the entry will enhance its overall completeness. Additionally, it might be better to change the title of this entry into "Internal migration in China" since most of the entry is about rural-urban migration in China. I also suggest deletion of the last section "Foreign and ethnic groups" since it concerns the issue of immigration. I would like to further revise this entry this semester if possible. Feihuamengxue (talk) 00:07, 25 January 2014 (UTC)
 * Thanks for noting your intentions here! If you do decide the "foreign and ethnic groups" section doesn't fit here, hopefully you can move the information to a stub article like Immigration to China (currently redirects to this article) so as to preserve the information and keep it in the encyclopedia. :) Enjoy your editing! Jami (Wiki Ed) (talk) 21:39, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

A plan on revision
I plan to revise this entry as part of my course assignment. I will revise the section "History and origins" so as to provide more information about hukou system. I will then edit the section "Causes" with deeper analysis of three main causes:labor surplus, income gaps and migrant networks instead of a list of various causes. In addition, I will revise sections "Education" and add "Violation of labor standard" and "Left-behind children". As noted above, these three issues are the government and Chinese society's main concerns at the moment. I will also add a section on "Occupational profile" so that one may get to know what these migrant workers do. As suggested by Jami (Wiki Ed), I will remove the whole section "Foreign and ethnic groups" to the entry immigration to China to differentiate internal migration and immigration. I am considering to add more information on related policies, but I am still trying to find more related references. If you have any recommendation on references related to updated policies, you are welcome to leave a message here. Any suggestion is welcome! You may refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Feihuamengxue/sandbox to check a proposed outline. Feihuamengxue (talk) 01:18, 22 February 2014 (UTC)

Peer Review
Overall, you have made great contributions to the Migration in China article. For further improvement, I would suggest to thoroughly edit the article for grammar mistakes, as well as awkward sentence structure. Other than that, the content has definitely improved the article. JOzuna25 (talk) 18:14, 31 March 2014 (UTC)

Conclusion of my revision
I revised this entry as part of my course during this semester. And I hope my contribution helps to improve the comprehensiveness and the overall quality of this entry. I initially planed to revise the section "Benefits and costs". However, it seems difficult to find references covering all the points noted in the existing entry, while it seems unfair to delete some important points. I would really appreciate if someone could find more information and revised this entry. In addition, some data I added (from scholar references accessible to me) are old. It would be helpful if someone could find some more recent data. If you have any suggestion/comment on my contribution to this article, you are welcome to leave a message here. Feihuamengxue (talk) 05:28, 17 April 2014 (UTC)

Causes
Changes were made to the "causes" informations. I felt as though the content prior was not very specific and the use of "push" and "pull" factors did not accurately represent the nature of migration within China — Preceding unsigned comment added by John.chauvin (talk • contribs) 19:35, 25 October 2016 (UTC)

Moved content
Hi, one of the students I oversaw this semester added content to the article, replacing the lead. It doesn't fit the style/format that Wikipedia wants for a lead and also reads a bit too much like an essay for my comfort, so I'm moving this here for the time being:

If migration is understood as any human movement from one area to another for live improvement, migration had occurred within China before the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. Some archaeological excavations suggest that the earliest can be dated back to around 5,000 BCE, in which people migrated primarily due to population growth, resource limitation and pressure. This kind of migration also had occurred right after the People’s Republic of China’s establishment in 1949. However, it was complicated by many other factors such as political pressure. For instance, following the establishment, millions of Nationalists moved to Taiwan or Hong Kong, both for livelihoods and political safety. Meanwhile, under the leadership of the first Communist leader Mao Zedong, the migration within mainland China was also complicated by the Communist government’s own political movements. For instance, when the Great Leap Forward movement (1958-1961) was launched by Mao who attempted to speed up China’s industrialization at the time, many heavy industries in urban areas welcomed rural migrant labors. However, because everyone was asked to participate in steelmaking during that movement, there in turned was a massive famine that had caused tens of millions of deaths, as almost nobody was engaged in farming. There hence was a subsequent migration within mainland China, in which many moved to cities for a search of livelihoods. Another political movement relevant to the migration within mainland China is the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (or simply “Cultural Revolution”) (1966-1977). During that movement, about 17 million urban youths, who were called “zhi-qing,” or educated youths, were sent to rural areas to engaging in the anti-bourgeois movement by participating in rural life. It was not until Mao’s death in 1976 that the movement was officially ended, and that the youths were able to move back to the cities. There thus were massive migrations both in 1966, when the Cultural Revolution first happened, and in 1977, when the movement was officially ended.

Following Mao's death and the end of the Cultural Revolution, the successor of Mao, Deng Xiaoping, became the leader of the Communist Party and implemented the economic reform in 1978 to create economic development and growth. When it was first implemented, this reform did not attract many rural labors to move to cities, as there was an increase of agricultural productivity and income. It was not until the mid-1980s that there was a large population of rural-to-urban migration, mostly due to the stagnant of rural incomes. Many rural labors particularly moved to the “special economic zones” such as Shenzhen, which were designed to attract foreign companies and foreign-invested factories with special business-oriented policies such as tax breaks. These cities were attractive to rural labors in various ways; for instance, there were more (lucrative) job opportunities. This is still the case in today. From the mid-1980s to today, the job opportunities in cities have particularly attracted those already have a family. Meanwhile, there have gradually been more single rural youths moving to cities. However, many of them are not only attracted to cities’ economic sources, but also to the attraction of city life, the pursuit of independence, and so on. According to a report conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics of the People’s Republic of China, 3.3 % of the rural labors in 2016 aged between 16 to 20 years old; 28.6% between 21 to 30 years old; 22% between 31 to 40 years old; 27 % between 41 to 50 years old; and 19.2% were older than 50. This suggests that the able-bodied population (from 16 to 40 years old, let’s say) was larger (about 53.9%) than the less able-bodied population (beyond 41 years old) (about 46.1%). Moreover, the same report concludes that the female population of migrant labors had increased in 2016. Some scholars have suggested that may be this is because migration is not only seen by some females as an opportunity for individual development, but also for getting away from home (particularly when they are engaged in arranged marriage). Nevertheless, in 2016, the total male population of migrant labors was still larger than the total female rural migrant population: The former was counted about 65.5% and the latter about 34.5%. Furthermore, the same report also suggests that there was an increase in migration among educated youths in 2016. After all, over the last forty decades since the reform, China’s economic development has been largely contributed by its rural-to-urban migrant labors. While it is often difficult to collect accurate statistical data on China’s migrant population, the number of it is undoubtedly large. In 1999, it was already suspected that “at least one out of every five persons is a migrant.” In 2015, there was already a total of 277.5 million migrant workers (36% of the total workforce of 770 million). Out of these, those who left their hometown and worked in other provinces accounted for about 158.63 million (there was a 3.4% increase, in comparison with the total in 2010); and others who worked within their home provinces reached about 94.15 million (there was a 5.9% increase, in comparison with the total in 2010). At the end of 2016, there was about 281.71 million of rural migrant labors in mainland China. It is estimated that Chinese cities as a whole will face an influx of another 243 million migrants by 2025, taking the total urban population up to nearly 1 billion people. This population of migrants would represent "almost 40 percent of the total urban population," a number which is almost three times the current level. Such a massive migration in a short period since the form (about forty decades) is often considered as “one of the most extensive in the world” and probably “the largest in human history."

Regardless of their contribution to China's development, many migrant labors in mainland China have been commonly facing various disadvantages. A key factor is a household registration system called “hukou.” Just as its first implementation in 1951, the hukou is a system for managing and deploying labors. Under the hukou system, people are categorized into either an agricultural/rural or non-agricultural/urban household based on their residence. However, along with other policies, it is also implicitly a division system of social status and life chances. For instance, during the Maoist period (1949-1976), while those with urban hukou were able to work and live in a state work unit called “danwei,” which not only offered workers lifelong employment but also various welfares such as housing, those with rural household were not given the same opportunity and were mostly kept in rural areas for agricultural work. Meanwhile, in today, given their lack of urban hukou, many rural labors working in cities do not have any urban residency rights such as hospital care, and many are required to work long hours and for low wages. Such a lack of welfare entitlements may be a key factor why many rural migrants do not bring their family to the cities, as their child(ren) would not be able to enjoy any urban welfares, including the free nine-year education (six years for elementary education and three for middle school education). Many migrant families hence have to be split. One typical pattern is that the kid(s) and the elderly—sometimes the mother as well—would stay in rural area while the able-bodied—can be just the father, or both the mother and the father—would work as the wage-earners in cities. Under this circumstance, there has been a large “left-behind population”—usually the child(ren), the elderly, and the women—in the last several decades. Moreover, in addition to the rural migrants who move from rural areas to cities, there is also a group of people who do not come from rural areas but are considered rural migrants because they carry rural hukou. These people can also have limited access to various urban residency rights. Given rural migrants’ status of neither residing in their registered residency nor settling down in urban areas, they are officially identified by the government as “liu dong ren kou,” or “floating population."

This, however, does not mean that the government has not put effort into improving rural migrants’ living conditions and welfare entitlements in cities. For instance, the state has implemented a variety of policies to improve the hukou system over the past few decades. The most recent hukou reform policy is called the “National New-type Urbanization Plan (2014-2020),” which was implemented in 2014 with the aim to tackle problems derived from China’s fast urbanization process. One outstanding goal of this plan is to offer at least 90% (about 100 million) of rural migrants a variety of urban welfares (such as education and health care) while they live in cities by 2020. In fact, under this policy, some left-behind children have been granted the right to attend urban schools, which enables them to reunite with their rural migrant parents who live and work in cities. Accordingly, by 2016, about 28.9 million rural migrants living in cities have been granted urban hukou. However, some scholars have pointed out that the state’s motivations behind the reforms are not entirely people-oriented. In part, it is because the state has recognized rural migrants’ key role in economic development, who are seen as immediate sources for creating economic growth. Meanwhile, it is also because the state has been under a variety of pressures. For instance, some local governments have pointed out the potential problems that have been derived from rural-to-urban migration, including resource strain; some employers have also argued that the hukou is a barrier of market economy; and some rural migrant labors also have protested against their unequal treatments under the hukou system.

In addition to the hukou reform policies, the state also has put effort into improving rural migrant labors’ job conditions by implementing various labor laws. For instance, in 2007, the state implemented both the Labor Contract Law and the Employment Promotion Law, which required employers to treat all workers, including rural migrant labors, fairly by signing an official contract with them. Some scholars have pointed out that the Labor Contract Law has sufficiently assisted migrant labors who have been facing disadvantages in cities. However, some also have asked why many employees are still not offered a formal contract despite the Law requires employers to do so. In short, the state’s effort in improving rural migrants’ life conditions is not deniable, and it is also undeniable that policies alone are not sufficient to change the whole story. However, it is still worth asking the question whether or not the state has tried to address the fundamental causes of those unequal treatments to rural migrants in the first place, that is, the way how they are seen and how they are categorized under the rural/urban division system.

Hopefully this can be worked into the article elsewhere. Shalor (Wiki Ed) (talk) 15:19, 30 May 2018 (UTC)

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