ABSTRACT
A research project with the title Self-organization among Migrants in Beijing was undertaken with financial support of the Ford Foundation in 1994-5. The project included fieldwork concerning migrant construction teams, the migrant community from Anhui, self-organized commercial groups among Zhejiang migrants, as well as other types of informal organization among migrants in the Beijing region. This chapter is part of the original report and was translated by Hein Mallee. It then examines three case studies such as Old Hu's free contracting team from Wuwei, Hebei First Construction, Lin Da contracting team and Yozhu contracting team. In Beijing, except for the free contracting teams, the construction teams exist inside the formal system as legalized migrant groups with native place ties as their main link. The labourers in the contracting teams are placed under a strict kind of militarized management. This kind of organizational mode is most acceptable to the governments of the receiving areas because it facilitates control and management.
