ABSTRACT
Rural to urban migration has been a major feature of urbanisation in most developing countries since World War II. China, as a special case, had effectively limited this population flow during the early years of the communist government through the residence registration (hukou) system (see Chapter 3). Since the early 1980s, agricultural reform and the demand for cheap labour in towns and cities had resulted in an increasing number of people moving from rural areas to cities. Rural to urban migration has since become a very important part of the development process. Literature on migration in China has increased steadily over the last few years (see, for example, Christiansen, 1990 and 1992; Day and Xia, 1994; Davin, 1999; Fan, 1996, 1999 and 2001; Kirkby et al., 2000; Ma and Xiang, 1998; Shen, 1995 and 2002; Solinger, 1999; Yang, 2000; Xu, 2001). These publications have made important contributions to the understanding of the recent urbanisation process in China. However, most of them focused on the general features of migrants and process of migration found in the eastern coastal regions and major national cities such as Beijing, Shanghai
and Guangzhou. This chapter continues the discussion from the previous chapters and discusses the living conditions of migrant households in Shenyang and Chongqing. As well as looking at the demographic features of migrants, it focuses on the relationship between housing, employment and income of the migrants. Some comparisons with poor official residents will be made to assess poverty problems among the migrants.
