The determinants of the settlement intentions of China's floating population have received increasing attention from the academic community and policymakers in recent years. Individuals' socio-demographic features and institutional factors, such as the household registration system (hukou), have been explored in relation to the settlement intentions of the floating population. This paper examines how the characteristics of the destination cities influence the floating population's settlement intentions, an aspect which has not been considered by previous studies. Based on data from the 2010 Survey of Migrants' Settlement Intentions in Jiangsu Province, we find that after mega-cities, small cities are the second most popular destinations of the floating population in Jiangsu Province. Contrary to the expectations that migrants would prefer to settle in big cities, this paper suggests that migrants in small cities are more inclined to transfer their rural hukou to an urban one.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Agriculture Census Office of Jiangsu and Jiangsu Provincial Bureau of Statistics2009The 2nd National Agriculture Census: Jiangsu. Beijing: China Statistics Press.
2.
CaiHeWangJin2008“Factors, Influencing the Migration Intentions of Rural Workers in the Pearl River Delta,”Social Sciences in China, 24(3):157–171.
3.
CebulaR.J.AlexanderGigi M.2006“Determinants of Net Interstate Migration, 2000–2004,”Regional Analysis and Policy, 36(2):116–123.
4.
ChenAiminCoulsoN. Edward2002“Determinants of Urban Migration: Evidence from Chinese Cities,”Urban Studies, 39(12):2189–2197.
5.
ConnellyRachel2011“The Settlement of Rural Migrants in Urban China – Some of China's Migrants are not ‘Floating’ Anymore,”Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, 9(3):283–300.
6.
FanC. C.2002“The Elite, the Natives, and the Outsiders: Migration and Labor Market Segmentation in Urban China,”Annals of the American Geographers, 92(1):103–124.
7.
GangaD.2006“From Potential Returnees into Settlers: Nottingham's Older Italians,”Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 32(8):395–413.
8.
GreenwoodM. J.1991“New Directions in Migration Research: Perspectives from Some North American Regional Science Disciplines,”The Annals of Regional Science, 25(4):237–270.
9.
GuoJianyu2010“The Research on Migrants' Settlement Intention of the City of Zhongshan,”Journal of Nanjing College for Population Program Management, 26(2):34–42 (in Chinese).
10.
HouHongya2004“An Empirical Analysis of the Migration Intentions of Rural Labor in China,”Economic Problems, 7(July):52–54 (in Chinese).
11.
YouqinHuang2003“‘Renter’ Housing Behavior in Transitional Urban China,”Housing Studies, 18(1):103–126.
12.
HuangYouqinJiangLeiwen2009“Housing Inequality in Transitional Beijing,”International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 33(4):936–956.
13.
HuangZuhuiMaoYinchun2004“The Citizenization of Zhejiang's Peasants: The Decisions of Migrating into Cities and the Situation of Migrants,”Zhejiang Social Sciences, 1(Jan.):43–48 (in Chinese).
14.
Jiangsu Provincial Bureau of Statistics2011Jiangsu Statistical Yearbook (2010). Beijing: China Statistics Press.
15.
LewisW.A.1954“Economic Development with Unlimited Supplies of Labour,”The Manchester School, 22(2):139–191.
16.
LiangZaiMaZhongdong2004“China's Floating Population: New Evidence from the 2000 Census,”Population and Development Review, 30(3):467–488.
17.
MengZhaomin2009“An Analysis of the Survey on Migrants' Settlement Intentions: Putuo District of Shanghai and Suzhou as Examples,”Journal of Nanjing College for Population Program Management, 25(2):31–36 (in Chinese).
18.
National Bureau of Statistics of the PRC2011China Statistical Yearbook (2010). Beijing: China Statistics Press.
19.
National People's Congress of the PRC2001Urban Planning Law of PRC (1990). Beijing: China Legal Publishing House.
20.
RobertsK.2002“Female Labor Migrants to Shanghai: Temporary “Floaters” or Potential Settlers,”International Migration Review, 36(2):492–519.
21.
ShenJianfa2002“A Study of the Temporary Population in Chinese Cities,”Habitat International, 26(3):363–377.
22.
TanShen2003“Rural Workforce Migration: A Summary of Some Studies,”Social Sciences in China, 4 (winter):84–101.
23.
WangChunlanDingJinhong2007“Analysis of the Factors Influencing Floating Population's Living Inclination in Cities,”South China Population, 22(1):23–29 (in Chinese).
24.
ZhangHang1999“The Influencing Factor Analysis on Immigrants' Migration Tendencies in Rural Developed Area,”Chinese Journal of Population Science, 74(5):45–50 (in Chinese).
25.
ZhaoYanzhi2006“Migrants' Settlement Intentions and Rational Flow: Migrants in Shunyi District of Beijing as an Example,”Journal of Nanjing College for Population Program Management, 22(4):17–20 (in Chinese).
26.
ZhuYu2007“China's Floating Population and Their Settlement Intention in the Cities: Beyond the Hukou Reform,”Habitat International, 31(1):65–76.
27.
ZhuYu2003“The Floating Population's Household Strategies and the Role of Migration in China's Regional Development and Integration,”International Journal of Population Geography, 9(6):485–502.
28.
ZhuYuChenWenzhe2010“The Settlement Intention of China's Floating Population in the Cities: Recent Changes and Multifaceted Individual-Level Determinants,”Population, Space and Place, 16(4):253–267.
