How Migrant Labor Is Changing Rural China

by Rachel Murphy

• ISBN13: 9780521809016
• ISBN10: 0521809010
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-10-07
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

One of the most dramatic and noticeable changes in China since the introduction of economic and social reforms in the early 1980s has been the mass migration of peasants from the countryside to urban areas across the country. Murphy's in-depth fieldwork in rural China offers a rich basis for her findings about the impact of migration on many aspects of rural life: inequality; the organization of agricultural production; land transfers; livelihood diversification; spending patterns; house-building; marriage; education; the position of women; social stability; and state-society relations. Her analysis focuses on the human experiences and strategies that precipitate shifts in national and local policies for economic development, and the responses of migrants, non-migrants, and officials to changing circumstances, obstacles and opportunities. This pioneering study is rich in original source materials and anecdotes, as well as useful, comparative examples from other developing countries.

Table of Contents

List of Exhibits	x
Acknowledgments	xii
Glossary	xv
Poem: ``I Work in the City''	xvii
Map: People's Republic of China	xviii
Map: Jiangxi Province	xx
Introduction	1	(2)
The Fieldwork	3	(3)
Theoretical Approach	6	(1)
Outline of the Study	7	(3)
Values, Goals, and Resources	10	(18)
Modernization and Structuralist Evaluations	11	(6)
Moving beyond Dichotomies: Values, Goals, and Resources	17	(6)
Petty Commodity Producers and Livelihood Diversification	23	(2)
Temporary and Permanent Return	25	(2)
Conclusion	27	(1)
China, Jiangxi, and the Fieldwork Counties	28	(24)
Historical Background	29	(3)
Restructuring the Countryside in Communist China	32	(4)
Migration from Wanzai, Xinfeng, and Yudu	36	(6)
Why Do Internal Migrants in China Retain Links with Their Villages?	42	(2)
Improving Population Quality: Returnees as Emissaries of Modernity	44	(3)
Rural Livelihood Diversification	47	(3)
Conclusion	50	(2)
Resource Redistribution and Inequality	52	(36)
Researching the Impact of Migration on Rural Inequality	53	(4)
Migration, Household Composition, and Inequality	57	(10)
The Role of Migration in Increasing Opportunities for Off-Farm Employment	67	(5)
Migration, Land, and Inequality	72	(13)
Conclusion	85	(3)
Migration, Remittances, and Goals	88	(36)
Education	92	(11)
The Life-Cycle Goals of House Building and Marriage	103	(11)
Migration and Consumer Goods	114	(3)
Conclusion	117	(1)
Education Appendix	118	(6)
Recruiting Returnees to Build Enterprises and Towns	124	(20)
Return and Entrepreneurship at the National Level	124	(3)
Returnees to Xinfeng and Yudu	127	(9)
Coaxing the Phoenix to Lay Eggs in the Nest	136	(7)
Conclusion	143	(1)
The Enterprises and the Entrepreneurs	144	(33)
The Enterprises: Scale, Type, and Ownership	144	(10)
What Kind of Phoenix Lays an Egg?	154	(7)
Reasons for Return	161	(8)
Women Returnee Entrepreneurs	169	(6)
Conclusion	175	(2)
Entrepreneurs, Socioeconomic Change, and Interactions with the State	177	(19)
Investment	177	(3)
Improving the Political Environment for Business	180	(4)
Absorbing Surplus Labor	184	(4)
``Modern'' Managers	188	(2)
Integrating Natal Communities into a National Market Economy	190	(1)
Building Towns in the Countryside	191	(3)
Conclusion	194	(2)
Returning Home with Heavy Hearts and Empty Pockets	196	(20)
Unemployed Returnees	196	(4)
Illness and Injury	200	(2)
Pregnancy and Child Care	202	(1)
Marriage and Family	203	(8)
Problems of Readjustment	211	(3)
Conclusion	214	(2)
Conclusion	216	(9)
Resource Distribution	217	(2)
Goals and Remittance Usage	219	(1)
Return Migrant Entrepreneurship	220	(4)
Closing Thoughts	224	(1)
Notes	225	(26)
Bibliography	251	(26)
Index	277