ABSTRACT
The term “migrant workers’ children” frequently makes the headlines in Chinese newspapers these days, and never fails to provoke contentious debate. This emotionally charged term can trigger different feelings—anger, sympathy, concern, helplessness, fear, or even disgust—depending on one’s position in society. Regardless of how they feel about migrant children, however, most people have only a superficial knowledge of what the term actually represents in China. In policy and academic circles, it usually refers to children of migrants of low socioeconomic status, without eventual hukou conversion from hometown to city.
