ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview account of how the hukou system – the residential registration system – has shaped the pattern of China’s rural-to-urban migration and the formation of the socio-political identities of migrant individuals. This is followed by a discussion of the diversity and internal differences within the rural migrant cohort, paying attention to how gender, place and type of employment intersect to shape varying levels of subaltern subjectivity and political consciousness. The chapter explains the main perspectives from both critical scholarship and public discourses on the subjects of rural-to-urban migration and the experiences of rural migrant individuals. The 2013 Chinese Census reveals that the number of rural migrants has reached 262 million, constituting more than a quarter of the world’s mobile population. The Chinese media tend to deal with urban themes and speak to urban interests and concerns.
