ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an outline of the main issues related to the presence of rural-to-urban migrants in the cities of Mainland China and attempts to paint a more nuanced picture of China’s urban landscape. The direct connection between urban hukou and privileged living conditions was a hallmark of Maoist social and economic life, which rested on a neat conceptual division between “rural” and “urban” areas. A comprehensive social security system provided Chinese urban residents with a considerable number of services, administered by the work units of state-owned and collective enterprises. The need for a comprehensive, nationwide reform of the hukou system highlights the growing distance between the state leadership’s continued concern for social control and, on the other hand, the evolving realities of Chinese urban centres. Maoist rustication movements responded to the state’s wish to maintain social control by keeping young intellectuals away from the political centres of the country.
