Category Archives: Migration

Migrant children’s education in urban China

Liu, Jing and Jacob, W. James (2013) From access to quality : migrant children’s education in urban China. Educational Research for Policy and Practice 12:3, pp. 177-191. DOI: 10.1007/s10671-012-9136-y

An increasing number of migrant children are involved in public education due largely to the policy for migrant children education outlined by the Government of China from the late 1990s. In this article, we describe the unique and often difficult situation rural migrant children face after they enter urban public schools. Drawing from the Theory of Inclusive Education and data collected at two public junior high schools in Beijing, we provide an in-depth analysis on migrant children’s education from their own viewpoint and from the perspectives of their parents, teachers, and school administrators. Our survey results identify the need for further adjustments of the existing education system which can help improve migrant children’s education in China. Findings also highlight the dilemmas regarding how to best meet the needs for teachers, migrant parents, and migrant children who attend public schools. In order to provide a quality education for migrant children, we conclude by arguing that there must be a three-pronged partnership to best accommodate the unique education needs of migrant children in urban China.

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Li Keqiang to challenge the Hu Huanyong Line

Huhuyuanxian

In a recent speech on urbanisation to local upper management, Premier Li Keqiang mentioned the need to foster urbanisation in the central and western regions of China so as to avoid the socioeconomic problems caused by overpopulation in the three poles of growth of the east.1 He made reference to the Hu Huanyong line to stress the Chinese population’s asymmetric distribution across the country. The Hu Huanyong line is an imaginary line, which was drawn by the Chinese geographer Hu Huanyong (胡焕庸) in the 1930s to reveal the accumulation of China’s population in the east of the country. This imaginary line divides the area of China into two parts, 36% to the east of the line and 64% to the west. It stretches diagonally from the city of Heihe, in Heilongjiang, to Tengchong County, in Yunnan. At the time when Hu Huanyong drew the line, 96% of the population was concentrated east of the line. Almost one century later, and more than 30 years of rapid economic growth, this uneven distribution of the population has barely changed.

Historically, the area east of the Hu Huanyong line has been the most suitable land for human settlement. It encompasses the regions east of the mountains and south of the northern steppe. The mighty Yellow and Yangtze rivers emerge not far from each other in Qinghai, and then flow eastwards irrigating valleys and plains. The Yellow river, also called Mother River, is considered to be the cradle of the Chinese civilisation. The Yangtze (aka Chang Jiang – 长江, or long river) runs parallel to the Mekong and the Nujiang (Salween in Burmese) for some 300 kilometres, then changes course in Shigu (石鼓), Yunnan, a 180 degrees U-turn from south to north. It is often said this turn was crucial to the development of Chinese civilisation for, after this turn, the river flows east, irrigating a fifth of China’s land area. After a journey of 6,400 kilometres, it empties into the China Sea at Shanghai. The average population density in the regions east of the Hu Huanyong line is 277 people per km2.

Yangtze watershed

In contrast, the population is sparse in the west. Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Tibet, Qinghai and Gansu comprise 55% of the country’s land area but only 6% of its population, with a population density of 15 people per km2. The western region is a more hostile environment, marked by the presence of the world highest mountains and deserts.

During the past 30 years, migration towards the east coast has been more related to economic growth than to land suitability. China’s economic opening brought Special Economic Zones and foreign investment to the coastal regions, and millions of migrants went there to work. However, most migrations have taken place east of the Hu Huanyong line. Thus, inflow municipalities/provinces such as Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangdong and Zhejiang have seen their population increase by 26%, 25%, 18%, 8%, and 6% just during 2006-2011, respectively, whereas in outflow provinces such as Guizhou, Guangxi, Anhui, Henan, and Sichuan, the population has declined by 10%, 6%, 6%, 3%, and 3%, respectively.

When Li Keqiang cited the need to bring urbanisation and industrialisation to the central and western regions, he probably had these provinces with population flight east of the line in mind as well. The impetus of the Chinese leadership’s urbanisation plan is to counter this historical demographic trend by “bringing the cities to the towns”. It is an effort to break with the traditional structural demographic patterns through commanded urbanisation and strategic changes in the hukou policy. The full-scale plan involves land consolidation and agriculture modernisation, with the ultimate objective of transferring the (surplus) rural population to small and medium sized cities. It also involves huge investments in infrastructures reaching out to neighbouring regions (i.e. railway networks in South East Asia) to boost economic growth in the bordering cities. However, the income gap between regions west and east of the line is such that whatever results this effort to reverse the demographic trend brings about will only be seen in the long term. In the short term higher GDP will probably continue to motivate people to move to coastal cities.

 

  1. 李克强:协调推进城镇化是实现现代化的重大战略选择 http://theory.people.com.cn/n/2012/1026/c40531-19403044-3.html Last accessed October 16, 2013 []

China’s future and scarcity

Ma, Damien and Adams, William (2013). In line behind a billion people : how scarcity will define China’s ascent in the next decade. Pearson Education, FT Press, 352 p. ISBN: 978-0-13-313389-9.

Within a decade, China will have the world’s largest economy. In this book, two China experts turn the conventional wisdom on its head, showing why China’s economic growth will constrain rather than empower it. Political analyst Damien Ma and global economist William Adams reveal why, having 35 years of ferocious economic growth, China’s future will be shaped by the same fundamental reality that has shaped it for millennia: scarcity. Ma and Adams drill deep into Chinese society, showing all the scarcities that will limit its power and progress. Beyond scarcities of natural resources and public goods, they illuminate China’s persistent poverties of individual freedoms, cultural appeal, and ideological legitimacy — and the corrosive loss of values and beliefs amongst a growing middle class shackled by a parochial and inflexible political system.

Download sample pages (Table of contents, Introduction and Index)

China’s urbanization chart and its accuracy

Urbanization chart

The progression of urbanisation in China since 1982. In purple: the increase in population in cities and villages. In blue: the corresponding decrease in population in the countryside.  The rate of increase accelerates after the year 2000, when the real estate market begins to soar. After that, the rate of increase per year surpasses 1%. The figures should be called into question because only 35% of those defined as belonging to the “urban population” by the chart of the bureau of statistics have an urban hukou (registered permanent household). Thus, the chart shows the rate of urbanisation measured by the factual resident population. This means that out of the total population defined as urban, i.e. 650 million people, there are about 200 million migrant workers who still haven’t been fully urbanised. Although they might have non-agricultural jobs, they do not enjoy urban welfare benefits. This is what Chinese scholars call   “half-baked” urbanisation  (ban chengshihua – 半城市化).

 

 

China’s Li Keqiang about urbanization

Economy, Elizabeth C. 2013, September 10. China’s Li Keqiang on the urbanization warpath. Asia Unbound. http://blogs.cfr.org/asia/2013/09/10/chinas-li-keqiang-on-the-urbanization-warpath/ (accessed 19 September 2013)

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is on the urbanization warpath. For Li, urbanization—transforming rural Chinese into urban dwellers—has become perhaps the most important issue of his early months as premier. Most recently, on September 7, in advance of November’s Party Plenum to lay out the country’s economic blueprint, he met with a group of experts to discuss urbanization strategies. Scarcely a month goes by where he does not give a speech or offer some commentary on the issue. For Li, successfully urbanizing China is at the heart of the country’s ability to continue to grow economically. He notes that urban residents spend 3.6 times more than rural residents, for example, underscoring the importance of urbanization to China’s economic rebalancing from an investment and export led to   consumption-based economy. His remarks in March 2013 make clear his fears that if China does not find the correct urbanization path forward, it will fall into the trap of many Latin American countries with “dual” urban structures characterized by “urban slums” and “other social problems.”

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Informal sector – Xiao Wang (小王)

Informal sector - Xiao Wang (小王), Elosua Miguel

 

This photo was taken in Shanghai in September 2013. Motorbike drivers wait for customers at the entrance of the Shanghai Exit-Entry Administration Bureau. A ride to the nearest subway usually takes five minutes and costs between 8 and 15 RMB, depending on the negotiation skills of the client.

Xiao Wang (left) has been doing this job for seven years already. In one day he can make more than 150RMB, around 4500RMB per month, well above the average salary of a migrant worker (in 2009, 30% of migrant workers did not earn more than 1100 RMB per month)1, and the equivalent of a taxi driver’s average income, although net of taxes. He came to Shanghai from the neighbouring Anhui province 10 years ago with his wife, who works as a domestic helper (baomu – 保姆,or ayi  阿姨,which means “aunt”, a common term for domestic helpers in China).  Xiao Wang worked in a factory first, only to become an entrepreneur when he made enough savings to buy a motorbike. Since he could not afford to buy a Shanghai licence plate (the Government of Shanghai runs auction sales and the auction price of a plate reached more than 90,000RMB in 2013), he bought and registered the motorbike in Anhui (vehicles registered elsewhere cannot circulate on elevated highways during peak hours). Among his fellows, there are also many Shanghai locals who joined the informal sector after the massive layoffs that took place as a consequence of the restructuring of State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in the mid-1990s.

The couple have a daughter, who is eight years old now and lives with Xiao Wang’s parents in Anhui. They send money every month to pay for her education. For a long time they could only travel back home for the Chinese New Year, but they can afford to do it twice a year now. Communication with their daughter is done through weekly telephone calls. New technologies and smart phones are still absent from their lives.

Back in Anhui, they had land to cultivate, but income from land was meagre. The agricultural tax had not been abolished yet, and agricultural allowances were paltry. Therefore, they decided to leave the land idle and migrate to the booming coastal city of Shanghai, like many other farmers from this province. After a few years, they rented out the land to another villager for 300RMB per mu (1 mu = 1/15 ha.) a year. This does not represent an important sum to the household economy but its significance is tied to the interest in keeping the land. Leaving land idle may cause them to lose it in the next round of land distribution in the village, something they cannot accept. As it is often the case with migrants in China, their heart still belongs to their hometowns. There is no sense of identity with the host city. This mentality contrasts with other inflow cities like New York, where migrants tend to identify with the city almost instantly. One of the main reasons for this lack of identification with the big city lies in the hukou system, which remains as a stumbling block to the full integration of rural citizens. Since migrant workers do not have access to urban welfare benefits, they are trapped mid-transition from rural to urban.

Xiao Wang is part of this group of migrant workers – approximately 150 million – who work in the informal sector: they lack a formal job, formal housing, and formal citizenship. They have to prepare for any eventuality, something that has made them China’s biggest savers group. Granting full citizenship to migrant workers would remove an important obstacle for upward social mobility and respectability. It would also increase tax revenues and would help the country stabilise the economy, encouraging migrant workers like Xiao Wang to reduce savings and increase spending.

  1. 2009 Nian nongmin gong jiance diaocha baogao, National bureau of statistics of China, http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjfx/fxbg/t20100319_402628281.htm (accessed 3 September 2013 []

Residential satisfaction in China’s informal settlements

Li, Zhigan1, Wu, Fulong2 (2013) Residential satisfaction in China’s informal settlements: a case study of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. Urban Geography. Published online: 22 Jul 2013 [Ahead of print]

China’s informal settlements—villages inside urbanized areas—are often characterized by local governments as dirty, chaotic, and dangerous places. This negative discourse inevitably leads to recommendations for demolition. A number of criteria have been invoked in state decisions regarding the demolition of informal settlements; however, rarely are these places evaluated from the residents’ perspective. This paper, following a long tradition of residential satisfaction research in Western nations, uses a household survey to examine this topic in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. We find that local contexts not only matter, but may be the principal determinants of residential satisfaction. The residential satisfaction of village dwellers is not necessarily low, and most socioeconomic attributes are not statistically significant determinants of resident satisfaction. Migrants and low-income groups are not less satisfied than nonmigrants or middle-range income earners; the most important determinant is social attachment within the community. The perception of being excluded, or lacking neighborhood social attachment, significantly reduces residential satisfaction. No facilities can compensate for this negative exclusion factor. We conclude that demolishing informal settlements does not help to build a “harmonious society,” which is the purported goal of such programs. Removing the social and institutional barriers for migrant integration into the city is likely the most effective way to enhance residential satisfaction and neighborhood quality.

Full text available online (restricted access or purchase options)

  1. Guangdong Key Laboratory for Urbanization and Geo-simulation , School of Geography and Planning Sun Yat-sen University
  2. Bartlett School of Planning , University College London

How to dismantle the hukou household registration system?

Prof. Kam Wing Chan, university of Washington, has recently released his proposal for a possible hukou reform. The problems caused by hukou have been widely discussed, but Chinese authorities fear the consequences of its dismantling. For prof. Chan, the persistence of this policy prevent the growth of the middle class, which is necessary to build a consumer-based economy. 

According to his research, the hukou reform needs to be progressively implemented in order to make its financial costs bearable for local government, and so hukou could be dismentled by 2030. To obtain this result, prof. Kam suggests to adopt a three-step-approach. Graduates should be the first group free from hukou registration. This policy would not threaten cities’ social security system as gradautes because of their youth and higher qualifications, are net contributors to social welfare.

Then, houselhold registration should be made easier for skilled workers. Chinese cities urgently need more qualified people in order to upgrade their productions. As skilled workers get higher wages, this second move would not endanger social welfare programmes.

The last part of this proposal is of course the most ambitious, since it has for objective to resolve registration issues for the remaining  migrants.  But for prof. Chan, China can afford this policy if the two former groups have already been turned into urban citizens. Thanks to the  contributions of graduates and skilled workers, cities would be able to strenghten their welfare programmes and so they could integrate other migrants. 

Prof Kam Wing Chan’s full text proposal

Ren-Urban China

Urban China

Ren, Xuefei. (2013) Urban China. Cambridge : Polity Press. 218 p (China today).

Ren Xuefei is assistant professor of sociology and global urban studies at Michigan State University.

Description

Currently there are more than 125 Chinese cities with a population exceeding one million. The Ren Xuefei - Urban Chinaunprecedented urban growth in China presents a crucial development for studies on globalization and urban transformation. This book examines the past trajectories, present conditions, and future prospects of Chinese urbanization, by investigating five key themes – governance, migration, landscape, inequality, and cultural economy.

Based on a comprehensive evaluation of the literature and original research materials, Ren offers a critical account of the Chinese urban condition after the first decade of the twenty-first century. She argues that the urban-rural dichotomy that was artificially constructed under socialism is no longer a meaningful lens for analyses and that Chinese cities have become strategic sites for reassembling citizenship rights for both urban residents and rural migrants.

For students and scholars of urban and development studies with a focus on China, and all interested in understanding the relationship between state, capitalism, and urbanization in the global context.

Table of Contents

  • Chapter 1 China Urbanized
  • Chapter 2 Governance
  • Chapter 3 Landscape
  • Chapter 4 Migration
  • Chapter 5 Inequality
  • Chapter 6 Cultural Economy
  • Conclusion

 Publisher’s website

Internal migration and urban dynamics in Shanghai

Zhao, Yeqin (2011). Construction des espaces urbains et rénovation d’un quartier de Shanghai : la problématique de la migration et du changement social. Shanghai : Sanlian shudian, 2011. (In French)

The book is based on a Ph. D. thesis in sociology, Cachan, École normale supérieure, co-tutoring with Shanghai Huadong shifan daxue, 2008.

Abstract

Since the economic reform in the late 1970’s, China has undergone trmendous changes in poltical, social and cultural aspects. Two of the most important transformations are the urban growth and the flow of internal migration which is unprecedented in the history of China. This flow of internal migration has transformed the urban population.

The objective of this research is to analyze the complexity of relationships between migrnats from rural China and the indigenous inhabitants, who are often former migrants, in the context of ownership of an urban space (a poor community of Shanghai) which is dedicated to the renovation. These issues affect urban dynamics of contemporary China. This research has conducted a thorough analysis of previous empirical research, both Western and Chinese. The close link between migration and the city has directed towards a broader debate, particularly on internal migration and urban dynamics. We adopted the method of micro-sociology and regarded Yuanhenong, a poor neighborhood of Shanghai, as the unit of observation.

The research seeks not only to describe the transformation of Shanghai through a neighbourhood. it intends to show more generally : 1) that one must study the urban transformations from the activities and choies of people who “organize” the city, 2) how the internal migration and the mobility of population are transforming the cities of the emerging countries and how to build the new urban societies, and 3) the need to consider the question of Chinese specificities and its limits.

The future of Chinese peasants

A recent paper published by the International Institute for Environment and Development has studied the adaption of small-scale famers to China’s expansion1 This in-depth research is illustrated by numerous maps and tables to better understand the challenges Chinese small farmers are facing. 

For the authors, China’s agriculture has benefited from the economic development China has experienced for the last thirty years. Chinese agriculture has increased its productivity, the quality of products has increased and production has got more diversified. Thanks to the reforms and the decollectivisation Chinese small scale famers’ revenues have increased. In spite of this well-adaption to the market economy, China’s agriculture still faces several issues.

This paper has identified several challenges authorities need to address regarding Chinese small-scale famers.  

  • Chinese small scale famers need to increase the size of their farm in order to gain higher profits and be able to answer wholesale markets demand. For the author, this would also improve food safety, a rising issue in China.
  • Their research also shows that farmers are getting older, the young generation, and especially male workers are likely to work off the farm. They noticed the growing role of female farmers.

The authors advocate for more reforms to be carried out in order to solve these issues.

Firstly, more reforms in the sector of land-rental need to be carried out, to help farm size getting larger.

Secondly, the government should offer more assistance to small scale famers through the “farmer professional cooperatives” (FPC), these ones need to pay more attention to the ageing and feminization of farm workers.

Thirdly, more efforts must be made to encourage the professionalization of farmers. This sector needs to become more attractive for young rural workers. With possible higher profits, young peasants would not all migrate to cities. As rural populations’ level of education is increasing, more technologies must be included in farming. This would help young male famers to stay in their farm lands and this would also lead to higher specialization and competitiveness of China’s agriculture. 

  1. Huang, J , Wang, X, Qui, H (2012) Small-scale farmers in China in the face of modernization and globalisation, IIED/HIVOS, London, The Hague. http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/16515IIED.pdf. Retrieved July 15, 2013. []

Urban Village

Urban Village (chengzhongcun - 城中村), Elosua Miguel

 

Urban villages have proliferated in almost every Chinese city as consequence of the urban sprawl commanded by local governments, sometimes with the purpose of financing their budgets. They expose the imperfections of the double property system, where the government has a monopoly of the primary land market. The term “urban village” (chengzhongcun – 城中村)refers to the situation where the city ends up encircling the village. Most of the farmland has been expropriated and urbanized, and only the villagers’ original homesteads remain. Soaring real estate prices in the surrounding city reduce the possibility of an eventual expropriation and redevelopment of the area.

Urban Village 2 (chengzhongcun - 城中村), Elosua Miguel

In the meantime, the original residents make a good profit from renting rooms, mostly to migrant workers who have restricted access to urban formal housing, due to the high prices, and the lack of stable jobs and tax returns. Housing conditions are precarious and villagers are not keen to invest much money, hoping for an eventual expropriation. Buildings like the one in these photos date from the 1950s.  They are made of mud bricks and have dirt floors, water leakages are frequent, and some lack running water. The average rent is around 50€ for a 15 square meter room. Migrant workers adrift on the fringes of citizenship.

 

Urban Village 3 (chengzhongcun - 城中村), Elosua Miguel

China’s urban labor market: a structural econometric approach

Liu, Yang. (2013) China’s urban labor market: a structural econometric approach. Hong Kong :  Hong Kong University Press, 204 p. ISBN 9789888208043

In the last two decades, expanding China’s urban labor market has gone through a dynamic job creation and destruction, and large-scale rural-urban immigration. The marketization since early 1980s has made great progress in the transition to a real labor market. The author offers a novel analysis of China’s labor market using modern structural econometric models. The book examines issues of the disequilibrium of labor supply and demand, job and worker reallocations, and labor market matching in China. It also looks into the impact of rural–urban immigration on the urban labor market. The author analyzes the economic reasons behind the high unemployment rate in China and explains why it coexists with the shortage of workers in recent years.

Further reading

Liu, Yang. (2013) Job and worker reallocation in China.  APIR discussion papers 2013/01. Read the full text article on APIR website.

 

Urban Environmental Pollution 2013 – Asian Edition

Urban Environmental Pollution 2013 Asian Edition : Creating Healthy, Liveable Cities

 People all over the world are migrating to cities in search of jobs and cultural advantages, especially in Asia. This has resulted in the formation of huge megapolitan areas and surrounding peri-urban environs. In China, a 40 million urban area is planned.

The effects of cities on people are not well-understood. Cities require huge amounts of energy, resulting in large quantities of waste products, causing unsustainable environments. Cities are sources of air, water and soil pollution. Light and noise pollution are now known to adversely affect urban people. The role of urban heat islands and air pollution, PM2.5 and ozone, on human health is beginning to emerge. Lack of green space may have psychological effects for urban dwellers.

We began to explore the nature of the urban environment and pollution on human health and well-being at UEP2010 in Boston in June of 2010. This very successful conference identified many areas of urban life that warranted further investigation. UEP2013 aims to continue the exploration of the urban environment and how we can begin to create a healthy and liveable environment in cities.

 Topics list

  • New information about urban environments and how they function
  • Pollution problems and possible solutions
  • Role of the built environment in alleviating heat islands
  • Human health problems and solutions
  • Role of vegetation in mitigating urban pollution and human health problems
  • Innovative methods for alleviation of urban stress problems

Location

  • Beijing, China

Date

  • 17-20 November 2013

Deadline for abstracts

  • 31 July 2013

Programme Committee

  • William Manning, University of Massachusetts, USA (Chair)
  • Elena Paoletti, National Research Council (IPP-CNR), Italy
  • Claudia Wiegand, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark

Local Organising Committee

  • Yong-Guan Zhu, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
  • Tong Zhu, Peking University, Beijing, China (Local Chair)
  • Yonglong Lu, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
  • Yong-Guan Zhu, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

Website

居住证将取代户籍制度?

English version of this article can be found at the website of Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/06/us-china-parliament-urbanisation-idUSBRE92509020130306

A Farmer stands in front of his farm (Chongqing), Ai Chi-Han

路透社在2013年3月6日引述来自于中国政府消息人士,指出目前中国政府正准备推行全国居住证制度,以取代现行的户口制度。

这位来自政府的消息来源指出,中国政府对于户籍制度的态度是要逐渐淡化 “城市与农村”的户籍鸿沟,并确认在新的体制下人民的福利及权利能达到平等,但这项改革将是渐进的,而目前没有确切的达成时间。

路透社同时引述美国华盛顿大学人口专家陈金永说,户籍制度不改革,中国不仅不能产生一个不断壮大的中产阶级,相反会在城市出现一个巨大的贫民人口。

然而,中国在户籍制度改革的过程中,将面临最大的困难就是政府财政上的支出,这位来自于政府的消息来源指出,未来在保障农民福利待遇的经费支出上,将总体上让中央和地方政府以及雇用农民工的企业负担这笔资金。