ABSTRACT
The rapid surge of migration has been one of the most profound changes in China since it embarked on economic reforms in the late 1970s. Official estimates of the floating population – people not living in places where they are registered – are in the range of 150 million, accounting for about 12 percent of China’s population (National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) 2006). Some sources estimate that the number of migrant workers in Chinese cities is as high as 200 million, rivaling the total volume of international migrants worldwide (e.g. China Daily 2006).1 The sheer size of migrant flows has profoundly affected China’s development. Rural-urban migration, in particular, has been the main source of urban growth and is rapidly reshaping the economic, demographic, and social landscapes of the Chinese city and countryside. Parallel to, and as a result of, rural-urban migration, China’s level of urbanization increased from 21 percent in 1982 to 43 percent in 2006 and is expected to exceed 50 percent by 2015 (Chan and Hu 2003; Duan 2003; Guangming ribao 2006; Lu and Wang 2006; Zhou and Ma 2003; 2005; see also Chapter 2).2
