Migration in China
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In 2015 a total of 277.5 million migrant workers (36% of the total workforce of 770 million) existed in China.[4] Out of these, migrant workers who left their hometown and worked in other provinces accounted for 158.63 million (an increase of 3.4% compared to 2010) and migrant workers who worked within their home provinces reached 94.15 million (an increase of 5.9% compared to 2010).[5] The balance of gender for migrant workers was two-thirds male to one-third female in 2015.[4] Estimations are that Chinese cities will face an influx of another 243 million migrants by 2025, taking the urban population up to nearly 1 billion people.[6] This population of migrants would represent "almost 40 percent of the total urban population," a number which is almost three times the current level.[6][7] While it is often difficult to collect accurate statistical data on migrant floating populations, the number of migrants is undoubtedly quite large. "In China's largest cities, for instance, it is often quoted that at least one out of every five persons is a migrant."[8]
China's government influences the pattern of urbanization through the
History and origins
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Zhou dynasty
During the Zhou Dynasty in ancient China, migration shaped the demographic and cultural landscape. Internal migration occurred as a result of the feudal system implemented by the Zhou rulers, which divided the territory into various states, each governed by its own noble or lord.[9] People often migrated within the realm in search of economic opportunities, safety, or to escape unfavorable conditions. Nomadic threats from groups like the Di and Qiang during the Western Zhou period also led to internal movements as communities sought refuge from these incursions.[10] Additionally, the establishment of trade routes, including the Silk Road, facilitated both internal and external migration, fostering cultural exchange and diversity. As the dynasty expanded territorially, conquests and military campaigns likely prompted the movement of people to newly acquired lands.[11] The migration patterns during the Zhou Dynasty contributed to the cultural diversity within China and influenced regional customs and traditions that persisted throughout its long history.
Qing dynasty
Manchuria
In 1668 during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor, the Qing government decreed a prohibition of non-Eight Banner people entering Manchuria (including modern-day Manchuria in northeast China and Russian Manchuria) where the ruling Manchus came from. Ethnic Han people were banned from settling in this region but the rule was openly violated and Han became a majority population in urban areas by the early 19th century.[12]
However Qing rule saw a massively increasing amount of Han people both illegally and legally streaming into Manchuria and settling down to cultivate land as Manchu landlords desired Han peasants to rent on their land and grow grain. Most Han migrants were not evicted as they went over the
Han farmers were resettled from northern China by the Qing to the area along the Liao River in order to restore the land to cultivation.
Mongolia and Inner Mongolia
Ethnic Han were officially forbidden to settle in Outer Mongolia (modern Mongolia) and Inner Mongolia. Mongols were forbidden from crossing into the 18 provinces (neidi) populated by the Han people without permission and were given punishments if they did. Mongols were also forbidden from crossing into another Mongol leagues. Han settlers violated the rule and crossed into and settled in Inner Mongolia.
Despite officially prohibiting Han settlement on Manchu and Mongol lands, by the 18th century the Qing decided to settle Han refugees from northern China who were suffering from famine, floods, and drought into Manchuria and Inner Mongolia. Han people farmed 500,000 hectares in Manchuria and tens of thousands of hectares in Inner Mongolia by the 1780s.[21]
Ordinary Mongols were not allowed to travel outside their own leagues. Mongols were forbidden by the Qing from crossing the borders of their banners, even into other Mongol Banners and from crossing into the 18 provinces of the Han people and were given serious punishments if they did in order to keep the Mongols divided against each other to benefit the Qing.[22]
During the eighteenth century, growing numbers of Han settlers had illegally begun to move into the Inner Mongolian steppe. By 1791 there had been so many Han Chinese settlers in the Front Gorlos Banner that the yasak had petitioned the Qing government to legalize the status of the peasants who had already settled there.[23]
Xinjiang
The Qing implemented two different policies for Dzungaria (Northern Xinjiang) and the Tarim Basin (Altishahr, Southern Xinjiang). The Manchus had wiped out the native Buddhist Oirat Dzungars in their land of Dzungaria. Then the Qing implemented a large scale settlement in Dzungaria to colonize the newly empty grasslands. Han people were encouraged by the Qing to permanently settle and colonize Dzungaria while permanent Han settlers were banned from the Tarim with only Han merchants allowed. The ban was lifted in the 1820s after the invasion of Jahangir Khoja and the Han people were allowed to permanently settle in the Tarim.
Hans were around one third of Xinjiang's population in 1800, during the time of the Qing dynasty.
At the start of the 19th century, 40 years after the Qing reconquest, there were around 155,000 Han and Hui peoples in northern Xinjiang and somewhat more than twice that number of Uyghurs in southern Xinjiang.
Ürümqi was settled with troops while Green Standard troops and Altishari Turkic peoples settled in Ili after being ordered to by Qianlong in 1757.[31] Ürümqi was used as a place for exiles.[32]
The genocide victim Dzungars were the natives of northern Xinjiang. Han, Manchu, and Southern Xinjiang's Turkic Taranchi Muslims were all colonizers in Northern Xinjiang (Dzungaria). Han soldiers of the Green Standard Army were settled in the 1770s in Ili and Ürümqi by the Qing.[33]
Ürümqi had very little Uyghurs while it had many Hui and Han in 1787.[34] There were 76,496 Uyghurs and 477,321 Han in 1960 Ürümqi.[35]
Tibet
The Qing stationed both Manchu bannermen and ethnic Han soldiers of the Green Standard Army in Tibet. A community descended from Han soldiers and officials grew in Lhasa.
At multiple places such as Lhasa, Batang, Dartsendo, Lhari, Chamdo, and Litang, Green Standard troops were garrisoned throughout the Dzungar war.[36] Green Standard Army troops and Manchu bannermen were both part of the Qing military force who fought in Tibet in the war against the Dzungars.[37] It was said that the Sichuan commander Yue Zhongqi entered Lhasa first when the 2,000 Green Standard soldiers and 1,000 Manchu soldiers of the "Sichuan route" seized Lhasa.[38] According to Mark C. Elliott, after 1728 the Qing used Green Standard Army troops to man the garrison in Lhasa rather than Bannermen.[39] According to Evelyn S. Rawski both Green Standard Army and Bannermen made up the Qing garrison in Tibet.[40] According to Sabine Dabringhaus, Green Standard Chinese soldiers numbering more than 1,300 were stationed by the Qing in Tibet to support the 3,000 strong Tibetan army.[41]
In the mid 19th century, arriving with an Amban, a community of Han troops from Sichuan who married Tibetan women settled down in the Lubu neighborhood of Lhasa, where their descendants established a community and assimilated into Tibetan culture.
Sichuan and Guizhou
Migration to Sichuan and Guizhou happened during the Qing dynasty as a continuation of migration that started in the Yuan dynasty. That is why most people in Sichuan who speak a Han dialect speak Mandarin, while regions at the same latitude such as Guangdong, have their own dialects. Many people from areas such as Hunan moved there in search of space. They consisted of various ethnicities ranging from Han, Hui and Mongol to Yao and Miao. Many cultures already existed in Sichuan, such as the Yi, and some of the emigrants integrated into these ethnic backgrounds, even to the point of forgetting the Han language. During the Qing dynasty, people started defining themselves as locals or immigrants and there was static between the two groups.[44]
People's Republic of China
The unique
In addition to Hukou system, the
Huang and Pieke divide the migration policy evolution after Chinese economic reform into four periods. The first period is from 1979 to 1983, during which the government still prohibited migration. The second period is from 1984 to 1988 when farmers were allowed to enter urban areas on the condition that they provided their own food. The third period is from 1989 to 1991 when migration became much more popular and had attracted much attention from the government. The fourth period is from 1992 to 2000, during which the government in some degree encouraged migration, while urban local governments controlled migration more strictly because of high unemployment rates in cities.[49]
From 1949 to 1985, the net migration rate for China was 0.24, compared with world average of 1.84 from 1950 to 1990.[46] Since the mid-1980s, rural to urban migration became a constant social phenomenon. Zhao and Sicular report that the number of rural-urban migration doubled between the late 1980s and the mid-1990s. In 1989, there were 8.9 million migrants and in 1994 the number increased to 23.0 million.[50] In 2006 it was estimated that China was experiencing a –0.39 per 1,000 population net migration rate.[51] According to National Bureau of Statistics, there were 252.78 million migrant workers in China in 2011.[5]
The founding of China's special economic zones prompted migration to the SEZs from across southern and southwest China and workers, particularly younger women, could earn significantly more for factory work in SEZs than they could earn in their hometowns.[52]: 66
In 2000, the Chinese government began encouraging westward migration as part of an effort to increase development in China's western and minority regions with a reallocation of technological, human, and financial resources.[53]
Occupational profile
Rural-urban migrant workers have a significant presence in China's labor force.
Scholars agree that there is a sharp occupational segregation between migrants and the local population.[57] A study that compared employment situations of urban residents and migrant labors in 2005 reports that around 52% of migrants were self-employed, while 12% of the local residents were self-employed; 12% of migrant workers were employed in the public sector, compared with 68% of the local workforce.[58]
The degree of segregation varies from province to province. A series of field studies by China Center for Economic Research demonstrate that the labor market in Sichuan province is relatively integrated, while in Guangdong province and Shanghai the labor market is quite segregated with "rural migratory-worker urban-resident-worker dualism".[59][60][61]
In addition to inadequate social protection, the primary reason of the occupational segregation is the migrant workers' lack of skills and education, which keeps them in
Causes
The causes of migration can originate from various factors within Chinese societies. Migration in some contexts can refer to the search for self-identity and self-transformation which pushed many young workers to migrate to more urbanized areas of China. This search for self-identity and self transformation was consequence of recent globalization.[63] "Mobility and modernity have become inextricably linked in the contemporary era of globalization".[64] Secondly, migration to distant cities for work was not an option for most rural workers of previous generations. Migration created many opportunities for both women and men to extricate themselves from their current rural status and create a new name for themselves and their family. Thirdly, migration enabled the rural youth to become wage earners, consumers and city-dwellers which allowed them to become more globalized and mobile than they would have within their own respective villages. While the urbanization of Chinese workers provides them with more opportunity, it also can constrain them, as migrant workers, specifically females, typically make lower wages and are viewed as replaceable labor.[65]
Surplus labor
Labor surplus in rural areas is often regarded as one of the factors of internal migration in China. Central to this theory is that surplus rural labor provides a needed work force for industrial growth in urban areas
Income gap
Early in 1970, the
Migrant networks
Migrant networks have a significant role in labor migration. Migrant networks are "sets of interpersonal ties that connect migrants, former migrants, and non-immigrants" [72] through the ties of family members, friendships, and the overall community. The role is "particularly prominent in situations in which migration involves large informational or psychic costs, such as when moving to a completely different culture or environment or if the destination labor market is hostile to immigrants".[72] China's migrants are heavily dependent on their migrant networks to assist them in finding jobs and houses, while also making sure they are financially stable.[73] Migrant networks can reduce the cost of labor migration by providing job information and supportive relationships to the immigrants, as well as job search assistance. These networks can be described by the Chinese term Guanxi which "describes the basic dynamic in personalized networks of influence." Migrant workers can potentially find jobs at a restaurant or within the garment industry run by migrants from the same origins. In a study conducted by Liang and Morroka, whose research focuses on migration in China, they reported that female migrants are more likely to rely on the developed migration networks, while younger migrants and those with higher level of education are less likely to depend on the networks.
Benefits and costs
Benefits
How do transient individuals experience migration in China, and what are the cultural, social, and even political ramifications of their migration experience? Through these experiences, many migrants come to expect certain benefits. Gaetano explains that China "understands that a woman should have a life outside of the fields and the kitchen. This awareness will surely help improve the quality of life for women in the rural areas."[74] This quote suggests that rural women in particular who were exposed to modern globalization of gender and cultural roles lived improved lives. Labor in China was greatly segregated by gender.[74] Where typically young, beautiful women found jobs in the beauty industry and often found better wages and living quarters. Gaetano further explains that "women have had a virtual monopoly in urban domestic service and hotel and restaurant hospitality".[74] While females took the hospitality industry, males found themselves in the low-skill, low-wage industrial jobs which includes construction-like jobs. Though the jobs held grueling hours, being paid and establishing an identity separate from their household was a huge benefit for many transient workers.[74] Generally speaking, the difference in living standards between rural and urban workers was apparent where urban workers tended to live a more lavish lifestyle. This lavish lifestyle included better living quarters, nutrition, guanxi (social connections), and access to education. Education especially was a huge factor for the migration of families. Rural women were seeking to better educate their offspring in the hopes of better economic success for their children.[74] As China shifts from export-driven growth to stimulating domestic demand, the consumption and investment potential brought by migrant workers will significantly boost long-term economic growth in Chinese cities.[75]
Costs
With the benefits of migration comes the cost of migration for many transient workers.
Social impacts
Labor supply
In general, the current system of circular migration of floating populations in China offers greater labor resources to coastal areas of high economic activity, but "although labor productivity in migrant activities is higher than it is in local nonfarm sectors, the current economic cost of migration in China is so high as to significantly limit such reallocation. The current system therefore works to reduce the overall productivity of labor and causes a tremendous loss of social resources."[67] In other words, research done by Yaohui Zhao at Beijing University indicates that while economic theory demonstrates labor migration to increase efficiency due to the reallocation of labor, the economic cost of migration actually mitigates gains in efficiency enough that internal migration under the Hukou system results in financial and social losses instead of gains.
Violations of labor standards
Violations of
Low incidents of labor contracts are a main form of labor standards violations, which allows employers to further violate labor rights in many other aspects. According to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development, Ministry of Labor and Social Security and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions in 2004, only between 10% and 37.5% of the migrants working in the construction industry signed labor contracts.[78] A recent research by the Jinan Daily demonstrates that eight out of ten migrant workers did not know what the labor contract was. Many employers thus take advantage of migrant workers' unawareness and do not fulfill their obligations to sign labor contracts.[79]
The working condition is one manifest aspect of labor standards violations.The majority of migrants work more hours per day and more days per week than what is limited by labor law. The Chinese Household Income Project Survey of 2002 show that over 80% of migrants worked seven days per week, and only 7% workers' working time was in accordance with what law regulated. It also showed that around 33.3% of migrant workers worked 9 to 10 hours per day, about 25% 11 to 12 hours and 12% 13 or more hours per day.
In terms of wage payment, although labor law regulates a minimum wage, many employers either ignore the regulation or consider it to be the maximum wage.[57] According to an article in China Daily in 2006, nearly 30% of migrant workers earned RMB 300 and 500 on average per month, nearly 40% between RMB 500 and 800 and about 28% more than RMB 800.[82] Moreover, it is common for migrant workers not to receive their wage on time, due to the lack of protection of labor rights.[80] The government has realized the seriousness of wage arrears and taken many measures to deal with this issue. The situation has been improved a lot, but overall the problem of wage arrears still exists. In 2006, around 10% of rural-urban migrant workers received their wages on average seven months late.[83]
The limited access of migrant workers to social insurance highlights their vulnerability.
Class and inequality
As China experiences economic growth, the disparities between the affluent and the disadvantaged, as well as between urban and rural areas, continue to widen. At a group expert meeting of the United Nations in January 2008, a number of class-based implications of Chinese urban growth due to migration were identified, including "wage arrears, unfair compensation for land expropriated, urban poverty," issues of "public safety and social stability", and the potential creation of a "permanent urban underclass" of 200 million or more workers.[86] Class inequality is commonly reflected in income differentials; "in urban China, urban resident annual earnings are 1.3 times larger than long-term rural migrant earnings as observed in a nationally represented sample in 2002."[87] Additionally, migrant workers in China are generally excluded from the social services their local neighbors enjoy; "migrant workers' basic needs for housing, social security, and education for their children are not protected by the local government."[88]
Health
The floating population of Chinese migrant workers "presents major public health challenges, especially in the provision of reproductive health care for migrant women and the need to address the increased risk to both sexes of infection with sexually transmitted diseases and HIV."[2] A survey of migrant workers published in the journal "Public Health Reports" indicated that "forty-seven percent of the migrants were unwilling to make contributions to health insurance," and "poor living conditions and inattention to health may make migrants vulnerable to poor long-term health."[89] Despite these health issues presented by the floating population, certain factors mitigate the health impact of internal migration in China. In a questionnaire administered to a variety of rural, urban, and migrant workers in Zhejing Province, Eastern China, 2004, indicated that "Migrants had the best self-rated health and reported the least acute illness, chronic disease, and disability, after controlling for age and education."[89] In light of this data, the researchers concluded that the migrants had zero HIV infections, and the migrant workers examined demonstrated the "healthy migrant effect". Despite this, migration still creates a negative effect on public health due to the lack of affordable health care.[89]
Mental health
Historically, "migration has been associated with increased vulnerability to mental health problems," and this has prompted some research into the mental health status of China's hundreds of millions of rural-urban migrants. Research by scholars from Zhejiang University and the UCL Centre for International Health and Development has however revealed that "rural-urban migrant workers in this part of China are not especially vulnerable to poor mental health."[90] They believe that this "may result from a sense of well being associated with upward economic mobility and improved opportunities, and the relatively high social capital in migrant communities."[90] Thus, the "healthy migrant effect" also exhibits itself in the mental health of rural-urban migrants in China.
Gender
Migration in China has produced a number of important impacts with regard to gender and gender equality in modern China. This process, usually known as a 'transition', "has gendered consequences and differential implications for men and women."
Education
According to a research conducted by Zai Liang and Yiu Por Chen and published in the journal "Social Science Research", "migration usually has negative consequences for children's schooling because of the loss of social capital in schools, neighborhood, and community of origin."[96] In theory, migrant children can study in urban public schools, but access is usually limited. The main reason is that the education budget for compulsory education is allocated through local governments and strictly based on local hukou population. Many of the urban public schools with a limited education budget are consequently reluctant to accept migrant children.[97]
One usual way for migrant children to study in urban public schools, which is distinct from usual admission procedure, is to pay "sponsorship" fees (zanzhu fei).[77] The amount of such fees can be prohibitive for poor migrant parents, which impedes many migrant children to get enrolled in public schools.[98] Up to now, there are some improvements in terms of access to urban public schools and some cities have banned "sponsorship" fees, but specific policy varies from city to city. A large portion of migrant children are still excluded from the urban public education system.[99]
In response to the lack of access to public educational resources, migrants in some big cities began to set their own schools since the 1990s. These schools are known as migrant-sponsored schools (nongmingong zidi xuexiao). At the beginning, urban authorities refused to grant licenses and even closed down the schools. Although local governments did not need to be responsible for migrants' welfare, they should still be responsible for any accident such as the collapse of buildings or food poisoning that happened in the schools.[77] These schools are usually less expensive with average tuition fees around 300 RMB per semester.[99] According to Lu and Zhang's research conducted in Beijing in 2001, migrant-sponsored schools usually did not have licenses, high education quality, and adequate facilities. They, however, conclude that despite such disadvantages, these schools at least provided migrant children with basic education.[100]
In addition to the issue of access to education, migrant children have to return to their places of their hukou origin to take
Left-behind children
Having both paternal grandparents able to provide child care support full-time is a critical resource for rural people; otherwise, childcare issues may constrain their labor migration prospects.[102]: 138 Before the 2000s, few mothers questioned the caregiving practice of leaving children in the care of older relatives while they migrated for work prospects.[102]: 150–151
Left-behind children in China refer to the children who live with one parent (usually mother) or extended family (usually grandparents) when their parent(s) is (are) absent from home as migrant workers in urban areas. They are left behind partly because of little access to basic welfare in cities without local hukou status and partly because of high living expenses in cities.[103] According to Ministry of Education, in 2012 there were more than 12.6 million migrant children and 58 million left-behind children from 7 years old to 16 years old.[104] Left-behind children will have more health, emotional and behavior issues than those who grow up with their parents.[77]
Left-behind children are generally less healthy, but the difference is very marginal.[105] A study conducted by several professors from Chinese University of Hong Kong reports that left-behind children are more likely to have a less healthy diet and lower rates of physical activity.[106] In terms of nutrition, left-behind children face more nutrition problems such as low intake of some nutrients and poor physical development related to nutrition.[103] Further, many studies[106][107] find that left-behind children are more likely to have a smoking habit, compared to children with no migrant parents. Primary causes include insufficient public awareness and lack of health education programs. Weak implementation of related regulations in rural areas such as prohibition to sell cigarettes to children under 18 may also contribute to this unsatisfying situation.[108]
Left-behind children are also prone to undergo emotional and psychological problems.[106] Liang's study of 250 left-behind junior high school students suggests that 16.6% of them felt abandoned, 12.3% had problems expressing difficulties, and 6.5% felt "anguished" when being left behind.[109] In addition, the earlier those children are separated from parents, more symptoms of depression and anxiety will be reported.[110]
Moreover, various studies[77][103][107] indicate that left-behind children are more likely to have behavioral problems. Qualitative observations indicate that left-behind children often behavior extremely, either withdrawn or excessively aggressive.[111][112] It has also been reported that left-behind children tend to be "indifferent, introverted, inferior" [103] and "selfish".[107]
The problems noted above are mainly due to the fact that the grandparents either spoil the children or fail to give them enough emotional support.[112] Physical weakness and low education levels of grandparents who take care of left-behind children also contribute to the problems.[106]
Comparative studies show that left-behind children's situation is not much worse than that of those living with parents in the same area. On the one hand, the institutions (e.g. the hukou system) that maintain the urban-rural inequality should be modified so that more migrants can settle down in cities with families. On the other hand,
Policy theories
Scholars from a wide variety of fields have recommended policy changes in order to deal with the social issues created by floating populations of migrant workers in China. Some scholars believe that "public policies reducing the cost (including the opportunity cost) of education for rural people could help filling the endowment gap between rural migrants and urban residents in the labor market."[87] Additionally, scholars have recommended that "new policy initiatives concerning the issue of education and migrant children are sorely needed."[96] Public health scholars recommend that "because health insurance schemes will remain limited for the foreseeable future, attention should focus on providing affordable health care to both uninsured migrants and the urban poor."[89] In light of the migrant worker Foxconn suicides, labor scholars have recommended that "the government should redistribute income and guarantee benefits to rural residents and migrant workers to improve living standards."[88] Those studying labor mobility believe that "the artificial restrictions under which rural-urban migrants work in the cities, i.e. the prohibition on or impediments to urban settlement, restricted access to skilled jobs, and the system of short-term contracts, may have generated an excessively high migrant mobility rate."[113]