ABSTRACT

The rural-urban divide has been a persistent phenomenon in China. It was the driving force of rural-to-urban migration during the past two decades. While the massive influx of rural peasants has been meeting the labor demand of urban economic development, the transient population has also caused various social and economic problems such as crime in urban areas. This chapter discusses rural-urban disparity, rural-to-urban migration, and the heightened crime problem associated with transients in urban areas. Using court data of theft cases in China it further explores the nature of criminality exhibited by transients and compares their criminality with that of local urban residents. Policy implications are discussed as well.