Becoming urban

With China’s sky-rocketing economic growth since the late 1980’s, the mobility of its labor force has increased tremendously. In the early 21st century the number of internal migrants is approaching 300 million, corresponding to more than 20% of the country’s population. This development has become a cause for political concern, highlighting significant issues in the social relations between settled communities and new migrants. This book examines in depth how institutional arrangements, in particular, the Hukou (Household Registration) system, influence the integration of migrants at their destinations. Under this unique Chinese settlement system, migrants are defined by their Hukou location to which they are allocated by birth or by later official permissions if they fulfill certain requirements. The primary research questions approached concern the economic, social, political and psychological integration of migrants in cities. They are answered on the basis of both quantitative and qualitative original primary data. The findings are impressive. Migrants show strong performances with regard to their integration into labor markets and their income levels. Nevertheless, they display significantly weaker performances in the area of social integration and political integration. Surprisingly no difference in integration at the psychological level could be found. Dr. Rumin LUO (PhD from Bielefeld University, Germany, 2012) is working as a research fellow in Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Germany since 2012. She was trained as an Economic Sociologist and her current research interests are focused on institution, social policy, migration, and culture and market in urban China. Her other works appeared on Urbanities Journal, Collections of Women Studies and InterDisciplines. Journal of History and Sociology. She worked for projects and researches sponsored by Deutschen Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Asian Development Bank, World Bank, UK Department for International Development and so on from 2002-2008. Her working areas cover more than 10 provinces in China.