Category Archives: Migration

Transformation of dilapidated housing and reconstruction of new immigrants’ life

Yeqin Zhao et Florence Padovani, « Expulsion des résidents d’habitats délabrés (penghuqu) et reconstruction de la vie des nouveaux migrants à Shanghai. Enquête sur le quartier de Yuan He Nong. » (Transformation of dilapidated housing and reconstruction of new immigrants’ life. A Survey in the Yuan He Nong area in Shanghai municipality), L’Espace Politique, 22 | 2014-1

URL : http://espacepolitique.revues.org/2984 ; DOI : 10.4000/espacepolitique.2984

This paper investigates the issue of housing rights of the migrants in Shanghai. Using Yuanhenong, a shantytown in Shanghai as a case study, it examines rural migrants’ housing rights in the context of urban renewal. Authors demonstrate that rural migrants (nongmingong) have encountered a “collective housing exclusion”. As the most vulnerable social group in urban China, they are not only deprived of the possibility of demanding benefits but also lack the ability to express their demands. While their predicament is largely caused by the “collective housing exclusion,” particularly the neglect of migrants’ housing rights, exercised by the authorities, the lack of reaction from the migrants can be attributed to their own collective unconsciousness.

Significant fieldwork during several months and interviews with several actors such as institutional ones and civil society was done to inform the situation of YHN’s residents. The aim is to demonstrate the existence of a non-proactive group of people during the eviction process, nevertheless very real. Why this hiding actor does not participate in the negotiations and how does it justify its silence? What is the attitude of the other actors? How the triangular game is articulated between the different players?

Full text in French

 

New book: Transforming Chinese cities

Wang, Mark Y., Kee Pookong, and Jia Gao (ed.) (2014). Transforming Chinese cities. Oxon : Routledge. XXV-271 p. (Routledge contemporary China series). ISBN : 978-0-415-63665-0.

The urbanisation of China over the last three decades has been a hugely significant development, both for China’s reform process and for the world more generally. This book presents recent research findings on China’s continuing urban transformation. Subjects covered include the decline of the rural-urban divide, the spatial restructuring of Chinese urban centres and urban infrastructure, migrant workers, new housing and new communities, and “green” responses to urban environmental problems. The book is particularly valuable in that it includes much new work by scholars based inside China.

See more at Routledge.com

The second generation of rural migrants in Shanghai

Lan, Pei-chia (2014). Segmented incorporation: The second generation of rural migrants in Shanghai. The China Quarterly, 217, p 243-265. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S030574101300146X

This article looks at the changing frameworks for the institutional and cultural incorporation of second-generation rural migrants in Shanghai. Beginning in 2008, Shanghai launched a new policy of accepting migrant children into urban public schools at primary and secondary levels. I show that the hukou (household registration) is still a critical social boundary in educational institutions, shaping uneven distribution of educational resources and opportunities, as well as hierarchical recognition of differences between urbanites and migrants. I have coined the term “segmented incorporation” to characterize a new receiving context, in which systematic exclusion has given way to more subtle forms of institutional segmentation which reproduces cultural prejudice and reinforces group boundaries.

城鎮化新藍圖的突破與不足

On April 2, 2014, Prof. Chan published another article1 in Chinese on the lack of real breakthrough in China’s recent urbanisation plan.

自1949年起,中國始建城鄉二元體制,推行「中國式」城鎮化, 以法律、政治手段將社會、人口、勞動力等割裂成不平等的兩塊,並將戶籍制度與城鎮化緊緊綑綁。1979年前,戶籍制度將城鄉人口嚴格隔離。改革開放後,人口流動放寬,大量農民工進城打工但戶籍仍在農村,於是城市中產生一個龐大但無戶籍的「外來人口」群體,人數從1980年代初的20多萬,增至目前的2.4億,佔總人口17%。而如此龐大的「二等公民」群體將不利於社會安定

Prof Kam Wing Chan’s full article

 

  1. Kam Wing Chan  陳金永 (2014). Chengzhen hua xin lantu di tupo buzu城镇化新蓝图的突破与不足. Ming Bao明报 . April 2, 2014 []

The unknowns in China’s great urban change

Last week (March 27, 2014), Prof Kam Wing Chan (University of Washington) published on China’s urban challenges in the South China Morning Post.

After more than a decade of mostly empty talk, China has finally announced a bold move to grant urban hukou status to 100 million people by 2020. The target is a major component of China’s new urbanisation plan, which represents a significant commitment towards achieving genuine urbanisation.

In the past two to three years, urbanisation has been refashioned to drive growth and remake the Chinese economy in the coming decades. To accomplish that, it is essential to allow migrants living in cities to have a full urban hukou, and thus be able to access basic urban services.

Prof Kam Wing Chan’s full article

Migrants and “left-behind children” (2)

Two weeks ago, I published a review of a Ph.D dissertation written by Guo Lin on migrants and left-behind children that suggested that inequalities were greater between rural and urban children than between left-behind children and children with their parents. Although this study looked at the education, the health and the workload of left-behind children, the author did not analyse – as it was not the purpose of the paper – the emotional and behavioural consequences on being left behind by parents. In 2009, the Hong Kong-based China Labour Bulletin released a paper on children and migrations in China looking at both left-behind children and those migrating with their parents to cities1. Even though this article was published five years ago, its findings are still current. According to a recent research, at least 61 million Chinese children are left behind2.

This report highlights the distress of these left-behind children, who can spend years without seeing their parents.

In addition to the issues they face at school and at home because of missing parents, many of them are also victims of sexual assault or harassment. They are also more likely to have accidents at home because of poor adult supervision. The authors argue that many of these left-behind children also suffer from emotional disorders.

Authorities are well aware of this issue and have launched several programmes to improve left-behind children’s wellbeing. One of these policies is the promotion of “stand-in parents” that will look after these left-behind children. Another is the creation of boarding schools that can host these children and provide them with proper supervision from responsible adults, but many of these boarding schools are poorly financed by local governments, and, consequently, do not offer adequate living conditions. The authors rightfully argue that all these measures do not address the underlying cause of the left-behind children problem, which is the challenge migrant parents face in bringing their children to the city because of the strict hukou policy. If this issue is not addressed properly, China will pay the price in the future with a poorly educated workforce and adults suffering from social disorders.

  1. Aris Chan (2009), Paying the price for economic development: the children of migrant workers in China, China Labour Bulletin, 2009, November. Reteived March 20 from http://www.clb.org.hk/en/files/share/File/research_reports/Children_of_Migrant_Workers.pdf []
  2. April Ma (2014), China raises a generation of ‘left-behind’ children, CNN, February 5. Retrieved March 20 from http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/04/world/asia/china-children-left-behind/ []

A distinctive social class

Farmers

Farmers enjoying tea at a local teahouse in Yongchuan district (永川区), Chongqing. Photo taken during a field trip to Chongqing in November 2013.

The dual citizenship and property system in China has forged the collective rural identity. Having a rural hukou provides some benefits, especially concerning rural land rights. However, this rural, or farmer’s, identity constitutes a barrier for many migrant workers who have been living in urban areas, some for decades. In many places, the hukou has been relaxed, but in large cities like Beijing or Shanghai restrictions are still in place. There is little doubt that the lack of a local resident permit presents an obstacle for integration and identification with the host city. Migrant workers continue to have a preference for marrying their peers from the country. Very often, one can hear them making plans to go back to their hometowns after they retired. But, what seems more peculiar to an outsider is to learn that many still call or consider themselves farmers. According to the (English) dictionary, a farmer is a person who owns or manages a farm, or cultivates land. However, in China it has a very different meaning: it is a social class. It refers equally to those who engage in the farming industry and those who work in the city but possess a rural residence permit. Actually, the (usual) Chinese name for migrant workers does not contain the word “migrant” but “farmer” (nongmin-gong – 农民工). In fact, it also includes the fellows who joyfully sip at their tea in the photo, but whose industry is alien to the writer.

China releases plan to incorporate farmers into cities

The government plans to move 215 millions people from rural areas to cities by the year 2025. One of the results awaited by the Chinese government by sustaining urbanisation is the creation of a consumer culture driving Chinese economy and raising standard living. But this plan will generate side effects concerning the integration of farmers moved into cities such as the lack of infrastructures (transports, houses, schools, hospitals) and the restricted access to public services for the people who are still registered as rural residents while they live since many years in the city. 

“Currently, nearly 54 percent of Chinese live in cities, but only 36 percent are registered as urban residents (…). The plan calls for integrating 100 million of these second-class citizens, so that by 2020, 60 percent of Chinese should be living in cities, with 45 percent enjoying full urban status, the plan states”.

According to urban planners, to make this plan effective, the government will have to carry out two complementaries reforms which are taxe reform, in order  to give more financial capacity to local authorities for investing into infrastructures, and farmers’ land rights reform, in order to give them the choice to keep or live their land. Two major reforms still however in the planning phase, according to Tao Ran, the acting director of the Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy

 

For more information, read the full article: Johnson, Ian. China Releases Plan to Incorporate Farmers Into CitiesThe New York Times, March 17, 2014. [Retrieved March 19, 2014].

Picture of spartan classroom in rural China awarded prize

Zhou

Image © Fuyang Zhou

This photo, which was taken by Chinese amateur photographer Fuyang Zhou in Jiangxi province, won the first prize at the Hamdan International Photography Awards. It shows what seems to be an improvised classroom, with a dirt floor and mud walls, which serve as a blackboard.

In many villages of inland provinces with high rates of outflow migration, only children and old people remain. Remittances from parents working in the cities are usually the largest source of revenues for the village. The incentive for urbanisation from the government often means schools in remote villages are closed and schoolchildren are sent off to boarding schools located in larger towns. However, many local governments lack the resources to build enough boarding schools. Many of them have serious hygiene and safety issues1. Besides, the entry age at boarding schools is usually set at 6 years old. The most important problem is the shortage of good teachers. It is not only low salaries and heavy workload that deter teachers from moving to small villages, but especially isolation and the distance to urban areas. Thus, the teacher turnover rate is high. In spite of this, those willing to stay do not lack motivation and usually develop close bonds of friendship with the community.

For more information about the photo awards click here: http://www.hipa.ae/en/.

  1. http://www.clb.org.hk/en/files/share/File/research_reports/Children_of_Migrant_Workers.pdf, last accessed 20 March, 2014 []

Migrants and “left-behind children” (1)

Several studies look at the well-being of migrants and the issues they face in the cities. What about their children? We know that many migrants’ children do not have access to adequate education in cities because their families lack an urban hukou, and therefore cannot attend urban schools. So, many migrants choose to leave their children in their hometown where they will be able to receive an education.

How precarious are the lives of these “left-behind children”? That is the question Guo Lin1 attempts to answer in her Ph. D. dissertation.

She studied the different dimensions of children’s well-being based on their education level, their health and health coverage, and their daily activities.

According to her results, left-behind children and rural children living with both parents have a comparable level of education. Also, she notes there does not appear to be a large difference between left-behind children and other children in terms of health, but left-behind children are more likely to be covered by health insurance. Her findings also show that left-behind children are more likely to help with household chores. Based on this research, the overall conditions of rural left-behind children are no worse than those of rural children living with their parents.

Guo Lin recognizes that there needs to be further study the left-behind children phenomenon, not only by using samples provided by the China Health and Nutrition Survey, but also by conducting interviews. But for her, it is also crucial to look at the well-being of rural children in general. There are disparities between urban and rural children, which are partly caused by hukou. Guo Lin’s research shows that gaps in terms of education and health coverage are greater between rural and urban children than between left-behind children and other rural children.

We can go further and argue that China’s future greatly depends on the present health and education of rural children.

  1. Guo Lin (2012). Migration and the well-being of left-behind children in China. Ph.D. thesis, State University of New York, Albany []

Getting closer

Photo 4

Old farmer in Kaiping, Guangdong, May 2013. In an effort to reduce the gap between urban and rural areas and to boost consumption, China’s State Council has announced plans to create a unified pension system for residents in both urban and rural areas1. The Central Government will cover pension payouts fully in rural areas, whereas it will only pay half the pensions in the developed eastern regions. Since 2009, the Central Government ensures a monthly payment of 55 Yuan to pensioners, regardless of where they live. But this amount proves to be completely insufficient. Affluent provinces in the east have increased such payments, sometimes five-fold. After unification, the amount paid by the Central Government in western regions will also be increased. If fully implemented, this would be a major step towards dissolving the radical line that separates rural and urban China.

 

 

  1. Guowuyuan guanyu jianli tongyi de chengxiang jumin jiben yanglao baoxian zhidu de yijian – 国务院关于建立统一的城乡居民基本养老保险制度的意见 – http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2014-02/26/content_2621907.htm. Last visited February 27, 2014 []

Chinese Journal of Urban and Environmental Studies (CJUES)

A new journal in urban and environmental studies, edited by Pan Jiahua, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Ni Pengfei (CAS and UrbaChina research team), is a member of the editorial board.

CJUESChinese Journal of Urban and Environmental Studies (CJUES) (ISSN 2345-7481 print /2345-752X online) is a peer-reviewed journal that seeks to publish high-quality research papers and book reviews to explore a wide range of academic and policy concerns of urban and environmental studies. CJUES publishes scholarly work with a special emphasis on the following fields:

  • theoretical and conceptual frameworks for urban and environmental studies
  • the trend of urban and environmental development in both China and international context
  • issues of urban studies, including urbanization, urban planning, urban form, urban problems, urban land use, urban transportation
  • issues of sustainability and environmental developments, including environmental protection, environmental policy, climate change
  • linkage between urban, environmental and other areas of social and economic policy
  • international comparison and developments

Table of contents (vol. 1, n° 1, December 2013)

Free access to all CJUES issues is provided until 31 March 2015
(registration online required)

 

The 2014 Spring Festival migration map in China

On 26 January 2014, Baidu (www.baidu.com) launched the “Baidu Migration (百度迁徙; qianxi.baidu.com) service map”, based on global positioning system; the service enables users to observe the population movement (both in and out) during Chinese Spring Festival.

China migration

The map shows that on New Year’s Eve, Beijing, Shanghai, and Chongqing are the three cities which have the biggest migration moving out. As for move-in cities, Beijing, Chongqing, and Shanghai are also the winners. In addition to viewing the entire migration dynamics, users can observe the in-out movement of a single city. For example, on New Year’s Eve, people mostly move out from Shanghai to Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui.

Shanghai migration

The “Baidu Migration” service started for the Spring Festival and will end on 28th February. This service can be applied to other major festivals and events in China.

 

How urban housing demand can be met in China

Gottschalch, Sören (2013).  Urbanization in China and how urban housing demand can be met. Berlin : Institute for International Political Economy, 42 p. (Working Paper, 27).

As it has rightfully been recognized by China’s central government, successful urbanization will be decisive for the nation’s future development. Key challenges will be to realize urbanization economies, improve production and innovation capabilities, direct urban and suburban growth and improve a more equal distribution of benefits of economic growth to the population. This paper contributes to the discussion with illuminating the main drivers of urbanization: (i) migration and (ii) in situ urbanization, and the housing necessities for migrants that evolve from them. It attempts to support the establishment of an integrated and sustainable urbanization path by considering migrants urban housing demand in China’s socio economic transitional environment and indicating proper match. Migrant’s housing choices are driven by underlying priorities determined by their characteristics and their exposure to the immediate socio economic environment. Therefore, both, migrant’s characteristics as well as their immediate socio economic environment are put in relation to urban growth and its spatial features. The result is a set of housing supply forms and a set of distinctive migrant housing demands. Urban housing outcome and the match of housing supply and demand reveals housing preferences and housing market constraints. Based on these findings further housing recommendations can be given.

Read full text on EconStor (accessed 19 December 2013)

Employment and wages of migrant workers

Cheng, Z., Guo, F., Hugo, G. & Yuan, X. (2013). Employment and wage discrimination in the Chinese cities : A comparative study of migrants and locals. Habitat International, 39, 246-255. DOI: 10.1016/j.habitatint.2012.11.007

The urban labour market in China has been institutionally segmented, partly due to the hukou (household registration) system, in which rural-to-urban migrants have been discriminated against. However, the analytical framework in the literature that is based on the rural-urban divide fails to capture the diverse nature of the urban floating population, in which the urban-to-urban migrant segment is a growing proportion. This paper considers this regional divide, based on the dichotomy of migrants and locals, and examines the discrimination experienced alongside the rural-urban divide. By using original survey data collected from four megacities, this study analyses and compares employment attainments and wage differentials between rural migrants, urban migrants and urban locals. The results demonstrate the existence of the dual divides, and show that, compared with urban locals, rural migrants suffer employment and wage discrimination, while urban migrants suffer only employment discrimination.

Full text available on line (restricted access)

Zhao, Zhong; Qu, Zhaopeng (2013). Wage inequality of Chinese rural-urban migrants between 2002 and 2007. PEP Working Papers, 4, 37 p.

The paper studies the levels and changes in wage inequality among Chinese rural-urban migrants from 2002 to 2007. We use the Chinese Household Income Project dataset and the Rural to Urban Migration in China dataset to construct a unique dataset that allows us to document changing wage inequality among migrants and among urban natives between 2002 and 2007. We find that wage inequality among migrants decreased significantly between 2002 and 2007, whereas it increased among urban natives during the same period. Our results show that the high-wage migrants experienced slower wage growth than middle- and low-wage migrants, a primary cause of declining inequality among migrants. We used distributional decomposition methods, and find that the overall between-group effect (coefficient effect) dominates in the whole wage distribution of the migrants, which means that the change in returns to the characteristics (education and experience) play a key role, but on the upper tails of the wage distribution, the within group effect (residual price effect) dominates which implies that the unobservable factors or institutional barriers do not favor the migrants at the top tail of the wage distribution.

Full text available online on AgEcon Search

Wang, Huashu; Pan, Lei; Heerink, Nico (2013). Working conditions and job satisfaction of China’s new generation of migrant workers : evidence from an inland city. IZA Discussion Paper, 7405, 31 p.

China is experiencing notable changes in rural-urban migration. Young, more educated migrants with different attitudes towards living and working form an increasing share of the migrant labour force. At the same time, the destinations of migrants are changing as a result of government policies and the global financial crisis. More migrants than before find jobs in medium and small size cities, often located in western and central China. Understanding the characteristics and attitudes of the changing migrant labour force is becoming a major challenge in sustainably managing migration flows and urbanization. Little hard evidence is available on the working conditions and job attitudes of migrant workers, particularly for inland China. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the characteristics, working conditions and job attitudes of the new generation of migrants, defined as those born in the 1980s and 1990s, as compared to the traditional generation in a typical medium-size city in western China. Data collected through a household survey conducted among 1,048 migrants in Guiyang City, capital of Guizhou Province, are used for this purpose. We find significant differences in occupational characteristics and working conditions between the two generations. Contrary to popular beliefs, we find that the level of job satisfaction is higher among the new generation of migrants. Using an ordered logit model to examine factors contributing to job satisfaction, we find that age and gender do not have a significant impact for young migrants, while working conditions play a major role. Among these, it is not so much the income level that matters for young migrants, but other working conditions. Using a Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition, we derive that it is mainly the difference in working conditions and other endowments that explains the higher job satisfaction of young migrants, not the differences between generations in the valuations of these endowments.