With the hukou (household registration) system in place since the 1950s, migration in China was limited to officially approved registration changes. Economic changes resulting from the introduction of economic reforms in the late 1970s and changes in the household registration system gave rise to the mobility of rural labor. Initially confined to rural areas, rural labor later expanded to urban migration in response to regional disparities in employment and income. This article presents and analyzes data showing the relationship between spatial patterns of migration and regional disparities.
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