Postscript

This book has addressed Chinese rural men’s identity formation in both the private and public domains of their lives. A key theme has been the generational continuities with reference to gender relations. However, there is an emerging concern regarding a new generation of migrant workers within public discourse in recent years. A national survey published by China’s National Bureau of Statistics, ¹ revealed that among a population of 230 million migrant workers, over 61.6 per cent of them are below the age of 30. More specifically, 41.6 per cent of the total population of migrant workers are aged between 16 and 25. Recent research has also been carried out regarding generational differences between the older and the new generation of migrant workers, ² revealing that the latter are developing different meanings about work, including that they are more eager to learn new skills for self development. Importantly, their motivation for work has changed. For an earlier generation, their primary reason for migration was to improve their living standards to provide for their families. For a younger generation of male migrant workers, their primary reason for moving to the city is to ‘enrich their experience’. Building on the previous chapters, in this postscript I would like particularly to focus on young male migrants with reference to their aspirations, which emerged as a key theme from my empirical research. This may provide key insights in helping us to understand the local production of their emerging identities, thus suggesting future trends in rural–urban migration in China.