ABSTRACT
If there were too many outsiders, all of the entrances and exits of our village could be used to check the permits. Different from the way that Country Garden (gated community on Nanpu Island) uses walls for protection, we could set security booths at each road leading to the village. Chigang village at Shilou town, where my older sister lives, has set such an example. There are four security booths at each of the four road entrance. The people need to show their ID card to get in. The migrants who rent places in the village are able to get this card from a local administrative department. In fact, a wall is not necessary for the village, because the thickly dotted houses have the same function as the walls around the estates. Our village wants to adopt this method all the time. Nowadays, there is a temporary security booth at the entrance of our village, but people don’t need to show any card. Even if you are a stranger and behave well, you can get into our village. (Jushu villager)
The migrant workers are perceived as a “threatening difference” (Sibley 1995) by the local villagers. It is difficult for them to build social relationships between the groups. No matter how long migrant workers live in the village, their attachment to these places and feeling of home is weak. Some of them frequently cross the boundary between the estates and the outside to deliver goods, for example, but walking inside the estates makes them feel “out of place” (Cresswell 1996). These migrants are indeed “floating” between places where they do not feel at home.
