Return of Rural Migrants in Southwest China:An Empirical Study Based on 2010 Copies of Questionnaires

[Objectives]To analyze and study the reasons for the return of rural migrants in southwest China,so as to come up with effective policy recommendations.[Methods]Based on the questionnaire survey on the return of rural population in Chongqing,Sichuan,Guizhou,and Yunnan,the characteristics and reasons of the return of rural migrants were analyzed.[Results]It was found that the return of rural population in the southwest China was dominated by middle-aged and young people with higher education level,and mainly from Guangdong,Zhejiang,Shanghai,etc.,the time of staying outside gradually declined,and after the return,they were more willing to go outside rural areas to continue to engage in the same or similar work,and they showed stronger willingness to flow again.[Conclusions]The reasons for the return of rural migrants are diversified,mainly affected by limited welfare of medical care,education,and housing resulted from high housing price in employment places,household registration limitation,as well as the need of caring the elderly in the hometown,and returning to start an undertaking.In line with the reasons for return of rural migrants in southwest China,it came up with some effective policy recommendations.

What Drives Migrants Back to Set up Firms?Return-home Entrepreneurial Intention of Rural Migrant Workers in China

The extant literature on international immigrants has discussed migrants’entrepreneurial activities in the context of Western countries but has paid little attention to return-home entrepreneurial intention(RHEI).Rural migrant workers(RMWs)in China,who used to promote rural development by remittances and were characterized by similarities with early international migrants,have gradually returned to their hometowns to initiate entrepreneurial activities.Based on the structured questionnaire conducted in 2015 and 2020in Anhui Province,China,this article combines the concept of mixed embeddedness with the idea of double-layered embeddedness and analyzes the impacts of the social,economic and institutional context in RMWs’hometowns and migration destinations on RMWs’RHEI by using binary logistic regression.The article shows that the social,economic,and institutional environments of RMWs’hometowns and migration destinations have effects on their RHEI.The embeddedness in the economic and informal institutional context in RMWs’RHEI is even more important than personal characteristics.Compared with migration destinations,RMWs’hometowns exert a more influential effect on their RHEI.However,that does not mean that the role of migration destinations can be undervalued.Actually,the better the social,economic,and institutional environments of migration destinations RMWs moved into is,the higher entrepreneurial intention they will have after returning to their hometowns.The article proposes a modified framework in combination of mixed embeddedness with double-layer embeddedness and proves that it is suitable for analyzing RMWs’RHEI.The framework has important implications for strengthening China’s RMWs to return home to start their own businesses.

Regional suitability for settling rural migrants in urban China

Despite rapid urbanization, more than 200 million people living in urban areas are still registered as ＇agricultural＇ and are ineligible for most social benefits under China＇s Hukou （or household registration） system. This paper identifies the regional suitability for settling rural migrants in urban China based on three indicators （the degree of urgency, the skills and ability of the resettled community to adapt, and the ability of the government to support that resettlement）. It takes 2008 government socioeconomic data from a county level into con- sideration. Spatial, statistical, and decision tree analyses, supported by SPSS, Geodata, and ArcGIS software, show that there are five separate population types, each with different de- grees of suitability. These include highly suitable region, region suitable for settling migrants to outside regions, region suitable for settling migrants from outside regions, region with moderate potential, and unsuitable region. This paper suggests that regional policies for set- tling rural migrants are meaningful, since the five regions are distributed relatively separately. Due to the suitability for different bodies across regions, equal treatment should be applied to both the native migrants and that across counties and provinces. Furthermore, demolishment of the social welfare discrimination adhered to Hukou system and equalization of basic public services will be of more practical significance than the so-called settling rural migrants ac- tively and steadily.

Employment marketization,social security inclusion and rights equalization of rural migrants

Against the backdrop of stagnation in hukou reform,a new theme in research on internal migration in China has emerged.Are reforms aimed at equalizing citizens’rights effective in promoting the rights and position of rural migrants?This paper proposes that a dual transition is taking place in China,one that is affecting the market and another in the area of social policy.The paper examines two lines of reform measures intended to equalize rights:the marketization of employment and the development of inclusive social policy.This investigation on the reforms shows that rural migrants to cities have attained citizenship-based rights to employment and job-related social insurance.This paper also discusses the issue of local citizenship as a by-product of China’s reform and development.The paper’s findings imply that rural migrants are beneficiaries of China’s dual-transition.

How does Street Vending Economy Help Rural to Urban Migrants Integrate into Cities?

Street vending is a form of informal economy.The main participants of street vending economy consist of exploited workers,rural-urban migrants who are in low level of socioeconomic households,common workers,and some individual households.Most of the studies and articles have explored how to regulate the street vending economy and how to facilitate the relationship between vendors and city authorities,but the important constitute of street vending economies,rural migrants,has received little attention from scholars and there is little research about it.What role does street vending economy play in the lives of this segment of this population which itself faces a number of challenges in migrating and integrating into the city?We have found out that street vending functions as a platform which helps these people to better integrate into the cities.Through desktop research and case studies,this paper explores how street vending economy helps rural to urban migrants integrate into the city from four perspectives:identity integration,integrating in economic level,integrating in social level,and females'empowerment.

A discourse on creating and rendering educational and cultural enrichment services to rural migrant workers by public libraries

As far as China's enormous success in her economic reforms and development is concerned,Chinese rural migrant workers indeed have had their biggest share of contributions.Yet ironically in return,they have only received a disproportionate meager share of benefit rewards.These people represent a huge economically deprived group at the bottom of the social totem pole in China's metropolises.On the whole as a social group,their educational attainment is relatively low as compared to their average urban coworkers.As such being the case,their rights to access some of the cost-free cultural and educational enrichment programs in the society are limited and not always assured.Nevertheless and in general speaking,they manifest a strong and consistent desire to acquire all sorts of new and practical knowledge by means of accessing the resources and facilities of their local public libraries.It is suggested in this paper that public libraries are in a good position to give strong support to the central government's strategic planning for the development of a public culture service systema).In implementing such a government initiative with an unswerving purpose of advancing social justice and equality,public libraries should strife to provide as many as possible their library services at no cost to the public,especially to those socially deprived rural migrant workers.

Young Women Rural Migrant Workers in China’s West: Benefits of Schooling?

This paper explores the association of rural schooling with empowerment of female rural migrant workers in remote Western China.It asks what school-related intrinsic and instrumental capabilities enhanced their urban lives and their role as“drivers for development”in urbanizing China.The analysis of a long-term observational study of the females of one cluster of villages shows that recently-arrived(2015)young rural new-migrant workers manifested enhanced capabilities associated with their schooling in four dimensions of social freedoms:protective security against early arranged marriage,enhanced occupational opportunity,constructive social arrangements founded in rural identity,and cognitive and aspirational capabilities.Lower educational attainment and achievement are associated with fewer and weaker empowerment capabilities across all dimensions.Political empowerment capabilities in the sense of civil rights and entitlements have no foundation in earlier education and are lacking in their urban lives.However,a sense of“voice”is beginning to take hold among young rural migrant women.Taking a female-centric capability perspective uncovers beneficial aspects of internal migration,contributing to a more holistically theorized understanding of associated social changes.

The process and approach for the“citizenization”of Chinese rural migrant populations

China has a large rural migrant population,the country’s urbanization rate is low,and the cost of urbanization is high.These factors make the promotion of urbanization in China a long,arduous,and expensive task.By identifying and defining key elements of China’s urbanization transformation,this paper calculates the degree of China’s current transformation and proposes an approach based on systemic data to facilitate the continued process of transforming rural populations into citizens with full urban residential rights,herein referred to as“citizenization.”This paper finds that only about 40%of rural migrants had transformed into urban residents in 2011,and this share remained stagnant in 2012.Meanwhile,according to the sixth demographic census,the incomplete urbanization rate-calculated based on the difference between the share of the registered non-agriculture population as a percentage of the total population and the share of permanent urban residents-reached 23 percentage points.This thesis argues that it is necessary to advance the transformation process in a steady,stage-by-stage manner,including by carrying out multi-pronged efforts in various fields at various levels,and establishing a diversified cost-sharing mechanism,so as to achieve higher-quality,rational urbanization in China.

The Representation of Rural Migrant Women and the Discourses of Modernity in Contemporary China A Study of Zhang Kangkang＇s Novel Zhima

Contemporary Chinese female writer Zhang Kangkang＇s novel Zhima uses the lives of rural migrant women to symbolize the experience of the individual in Chinese urban modernity. The novel exposes the gender and class discrimination suffered by the rural migrant woman Zhima, but it does not fully unmask or probe the deeply institutionalized imbrications between gender, class and power in both rural and urban society. The challenge posed to the hierarchical distinction between rural/urban in this text＇s narrative ultimately gives way to the discourses on suzhi （quality） and ＂population control＂ that actually reinforce the rural/urban differences. The author＇s self-proclaimed feminist standpoint is also overshadowed by the text＇s complicity with developmentalist modern urban values. This literary text thus affirms, rather than calling into question, the post-socialist discourses of modernity, which are distinguished by their promotion and celebration of urbanization and free market.

Globalization, Women, and Poverty： A Transcultural Reading of Sheng Keyi＇s Northern Girls

China＇s rise within a global economy has had diverse consequences for Chinese women. For the super rich and the rising middle class, it has offered opportunities for vast wealth. For the newly emergent underclass of migrant workers who have flooded to the cities, it has engendered exploitative states of vulnerability, especially for rural women. In this paper we locate our inquiry in the context of globalization and its impact on rural women＇s lives as witnessed through the medium of a unique and distinctive women＇s life narrative, Sheng Keyi＇s Bei mei （Northern Girls）. The text testifies to the underside of women＇s lives within the new market economy, documenting the cruelty of global capitalism. It presents an alternative version of the history of China＇s rise in the global economy and maps a trajectory of increasing inequality from a previously silenced female perspective. Sheng Keyi＇s world speaks to the sordid world of women, the world of yin. It coexists with the dizzying ascent of the yang--as the powerful nation grapples with social inequality and fragmentation. In its international circulation, Northern Girls opens readers to the contradictions and ambivalent aspects of China＇s economic rise and its consequences specifically for migrant women.