Since the 1980s, it has been possible for the Chinese peasant household to diversify its economic base by making use of its social networks to place members in a distant community as migrant workers. Through a microstudy of 50 such migrants in Kaiping County in the Pearl River Delta region, this article illustrates the interplay between macro, meso, and micro factors in the causes and processes of circulatory mobility in post-Mao China. It is found that Hong Kong's search for cheap labor, the PRC's household registration system, and Kaiping's strong localism provide the context in which migrants and their households have to adjust. The particular behavior pattern of these migrants also bears the stamp of their rational household decision-making processes as well as their feelings of moral obligation toward their kin in their community of origin.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AminS.1974“Introduction.” In Modern Migration in West Africa. Edited by SamirA.London: Oxford University Press.
2.
AshR.1988“The Evolution of Agricultural Policy,”China Quarterly, 116:529–55.
3.
BanisterJ.1987China's Changing Population.Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
4.
BedfordR. D.1973New Hebridean Mobility: A Study of Circular Migration.Canberra: Australian National University.
5.
BoydM.1989“Family and Personal Network in International Migration: Recent Developments and New Agendas,”International Migration Review, 23(3):638–80.
6.
CaldwellJ. C.1976“Towards a Restatement of Demographic Transition Theory,”Population and Development Review, 2:321–66.
7.
ChanK. W.1988“Rural-Urban Migration in China 1950–1982: Estimates and Analysis,”Urban Geography, 9:53–84.
8.
ChapmanM. and ProtheroM. R.1985a “Circulation between ‘Home’ and Other Places: Some Propositions.” In Circulation in Population Movement: Substance and Concepts from the Melanesian Case. Edited by ChapmanM. and ProtheroR. M.London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Pp. 1–13.
9.
ChapmanM. and ProtheroM. R.1985b “Themes on Circulation in the Third World.” In Circulation in Third World Countries. Edited by ProtheroR. M. and ChapmanM.London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Pp. 1–26.
10.
ChristiansenF.1992“Market Transition in China: The Case of Jiangsu Labour Market, 1978–1990,”Modern China, 18(1):72–94.
11.
ChristiansenF.1990a “Social Division and Peasant Mobility in Mainland China: The Implications of the Hu-k'ou System,”Issues and Studies, 26(4):23–42.
12.
ChristiansenF.1990b “The Ambiguities of Labour and Market in Periurban Communities in China during the Reform Era.” In Remaking Peasant China: Problem of Rural Development and Institutions at the Start of the 1990s. Edited by DelmanJ.Arrhus, Denmark: Arrhus University Press. Pp. 94–105.
13.
CornellJ., DasguptaB., LaishleyR. and LiptonM.1976Migration from Rural Areas: The Evidence from Village Studies.Dehli: Oxford University Press.
14.
DickenP.1986Global Shift: Industrial Change in a Turbulent World.London: Harper and Row.
15.
DuttonM.1988“Introduction: Basic Facts on the Household Registration System,”Chinese Economic Studies, 22(1):3–21.
16.
ElkanW.1959“Migrant Labour in Africa: An Economist's Approach,”American Economic Review, 49:188–97.
17.
FieldsG.1975“Rural-Urban Migration, Urban Unemployment and Underemployment, and Job Search Activities in LDCs,”Journal of Development Economics, pp. 165–187. June.
18.
FreedmanM.1958Lineage Organization in Southeastern China.London: Atlone Press.
19.
FuchsR. J. and DemkoG. J.1978“The Postwar Mobility Transition in Eastern Europe,”Geographical Review, 68:171–82.
20.
GarbettG. K.1975“Circulatory Migration in Rhodesia: Towards a Decision Model.” In Town and Country in Central and Eastern Africa. Edited by ParkinD.London: Oxford University Press. Pp. 113–125.
21.
GilpinR.1987The Political Economy of International Relations.Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
22.
GoldsteinA. and GoldsteinS.1987–1988 “Varieties of Population Mobility in Relation to Development in China,”Studies in Comparative International Development, pp. 101–124. Winter.
23.
GoldsteinS. and GoldsteinA.1990“Town and City: New Directions in Chinese Urbanization.” In Chinese Urban Reforms: What Models Now? Edited by KwokR. Y.Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe. Pp. 17–44.
24.
GoldsteinS. and GoldsteinA.1984“Population Movement, Labour Force Absorption and Urbanization in China,”Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, 476:90–110. Nov.
25.
GouldW. T. S. and ProtheroR. M.1975“Space and Time in African Population Mobility.” In People on the Move: Studies on Internal Migration. Edited by KosinskiL. A. and ProtheroR. M.London: Methuen & Co. Ltd. Pp. 39–49.
26.
GuR. and LiZ.1989Nongcun Jingji Fazhan Tansuo (Research into the Development of Rural Economy). Jiangmen Municipality: Nongcun Duwu Chubanshe.
27.
Guangdongsheng Tongji Nianjian (Statistics Yearbook of Guangdong Province) 1990Beijing: National Statistics Bureau.
28.
HamerA.1990“Four Hypotheses Concerning Contemporary Chinese Urbanization.” In Chinese Urban Reforms: What Models Now? Edited by KwokR. Y.Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe. Pp. 233–242.
29.
HarrisJ. and TodaroM. P.1970“Migration, Unemployment and Development: A Two-Way Analysis,”The American Economic Review, pp. 126–142. Mar.
30.
HowardP.1991“Rice Bowls and Job Security: The Urban Contract Labour System,”The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, 25:93–114. Jan.
31.
HugoG.J.1985“Circulation in West Java, Indonesia.” In Circulation in Third World Countries. Edited by ProtheroR. M. and ChapmanM.London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Pp. 75–99.
32.
HugoG.J.1983“New Conceptual Approaches to Migration in the Context of Urbanization: A Discussion Based on Indonesian Experience.” In Population Movements: Their Forms and Functions in Urbanization and Development. Edited by MorrisonP. A.Liege: International Union for the Scientific Study of Population. Pp. 69–113.
33.
JohnsonG.1992“Changing Horizons for Regional Development: Continuity and Transformation in Hong Kong and Its Hinterland, 1950–1990.” Paper presented at the Seminar on Hong Kong and Its Hinterland, Canada and Hong Kong Project, University of British Columbia, Jan. 17–18.
34.
JohnsonG.1989“Rural Transformation in South China? View from the Locality,”Revue Europeene des Sciences Sociales, 27(84): 191–226.
35.
JohnsonG.1986“1997 and After: Will Hong Kong Survive? A Personal View,”Pacific Affairs, 59(2):237–254.
36.
LinJ. Y.1988“Rural Factor Markets in China after the Household Responsibility System.” In Chinese Economic Policy: Reform at Midstream. Edited by ReynoldsB. L.New York: Paragon House. Pp. 169–204.
37.
LiptonM.1988“Rural Development and the Retention of the Rural Population in the Countryside of Developing Countries.” In Staying On: Retention and Migration in Peasant Societies. Edited by HavetJ.Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press. Pp. 24–50.
38.
LiptonM.1980“Migration from Rural Areas of Poor Countries: The Impact on Rural Productivity and Income Distribution,”World Development, 8:1–24.
39.
LiuA.1991“Economic Reforms, Mobility Strategies, and National Integration in China,”Asian Survey, 31(5):393–408.
40.
LoC. P.1989“Recent Spatial Restructuring in Zhujiang Delta, South China: A Study of Socialist Regional Development Strategy,”Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 79(2):293–308.
41.
McGeeT. G.1971The Urbanization Process in The Third World: Explorations in Search of a Theory.London: G. Bell and Sons.
42.
MagubaneB.1979The Political Economy of Race and Class in South Africa.New York: Monthly Review Press.
43.
MitchellJ. C.1961“The Causes of Labour Migration.” In Migrant Labour in Africa South of the Sahara.Abidjan: Commission for Technical Cooperation in Africa South of the Sahara. Pp. 259–280.
44.
MorokvasicM.1984“Birds of Passage are Also Women,”International Migration Review, 18(4):886–907.
NelsonJ. M.1975“Sojourners versus New Urbanites: Causes and Consequences of Temporary versus Permanent Cityward Migration in Developing Countries,”Economic Development and Cultural Change. Pp. 721–757. Oct.–July.
47.
OshimaK.1990“The Present Condition of Inter-Regional Movements of the Labor Force in Rural Jiangsu Province, China,”The Developing Economies, 28(2):202–220.
48.
ParishW. L.1990“What Models Now?” In Chinese Urban Reforms: What Models Now? Edited by KwokR. Y.Armonk, NY: M. SharpeE. Pp. 8–16.
49.
ParishW. L.1978Village and Family in Contemporary China.Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
50.
PortesA.1978“Migration and Underdevelopment,”Politics and Society, 8(1):1–48.
51.
PotterS. H.1983“The Position of Peasants in Modern China's Social Order,”Modern China, 9(4):465–500.
52.
PotterS. H. and PotterJ. M.1990China's Peasants: The Anthropology of a Revolution.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
53.
ProtheroM. R.1974“Microscale Studies of Population Mobility in Tropical Africa: Some Problems and Possibilities.” In Population at Microscale. Edited by KosinskiL. A. and WebbJ.Wellington: New Zealand Geographical Society. Pp. 121–126.
54.
ProtheroR. M. and ChapmanM.1985Circulation in Third World Countries.London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
55.
PrybylaJ. S.1989“China's Economic Experiment: Back from the Market?”Problems of Communism, 38(1):1–18.
56.
RossaM. H. and WeisnerT. S.1977“The Rural-Urban Migrant Network in Kenya: Some General Implications,”American Ethnologist, 4:359–375.
57.
Sassen-KoobS.1984“Notes on the Incorporation of Third World Women in Wage Labour through Immigration and Off-shore Production,”International Migration Review, 18(4): 1144–1167.
58.
SiuH. F.1990“The Politics of Migration in a Market Town.” In Chinese Society on the Eve of Tiananmen: The Impact of Reform. Edited by DavisD. and VogelE. F.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Pp. 61–82.
59.
SiuP. S.1952“The Sojourner,”American Journal of Sociology, 82:34–44.
60.
SkeldonR.1990Population Mobility in Developing Countries: A Reinterpretation.London and New York: Belhaven Press.
61.
SkeldonR.1977“The Evolution of Migration Patterns during Urbanization in Peru,”Geographical Review, 67:394–411.
62.
SkinnerG. W.1977“Introduction: Urban Social Structure in Ch'ing China.” In The City in Late Imperial China. Edited by SkinnerG. W.Stanford: Stanford University Press. Pp. 253–274.
63.
SkinnerG. W.1976“Mobility Strategies in Late Imperial China: A Regional System Analysis.” In Regional Analysis, Vol. 1. Edited by SmithC. A.New York: Academic Press. Pp. 327–364.
64.
SmartJ. and SmartA.1991“Personal Relations and Divergent Economies: A Case Study of Hong Kong Investment in South China,”International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 15(2):216–233.
65.
SolingerD.J.1991“The Floating Population as a Form of Civil Society?” Paper delivered at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, New Orleans, April 11–14.
66.
SolingerD.J.1985“Temporary Residence Certificate Regulations in Wuhan, May 1983,”China Quarterly, 101:98–103.
67.
StandingG.1985Circulation and the Labour Process.London: Croom Helm Press.
68.
StarkO.1965“Introduction to Symposium on Advance Migration Theory,”Journal of Development Economics, 17:1–3.
69.
StarkO. and LevhariD.1982“On Migration and Risk in LCDs,”Economic Development and Cultural Change, 31(1):191–196.
70.
SungY.1991The China-Hong Kong Connection: The Key to China's Open Door Policy.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
71.
TaylorJ. R.1988“Rural Employment Trends and the Legacy of Surplus Labour,”China Quarterly, 116:736–766.
72.
ThadaniV. N. and TodaroM. P.1984“Female Migration: A Conceptual Framework.” In Women in Cities of Asia: Migration and Urban Adaptation. Edited by FawcettJ. T., KhooS. E. and SmithP. S.Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Pp. 36–59.
73.
TodaroM. P.1976International Migration in Developing Countries.Geneva: International Labour Organization.
74.
TodaroM. P.1969“A Model of Labour Migration and Urban Unemployment in Less Developed Countries,”The American Economic Review, 59:138–148.
75.
VogelE. F.1989One Step Ahead in China: Guangdong under Reform.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
76.
WoodC. H.1982“Equilibrium and Historical-Structural Perspectives on Migration,”International Migration Review, 16(2):298–319.
77.
WoodC. H.1981“Structural Changes and Household Strategies: A Conceptual Framework for the Study of Rural Migration,”Human Organization, 40(4):338–343.
78.
WoonY. F.1990“International Links and the Socioeconomic Development of Rural China: An Emigrant Community in Guangdong,”Modern China, 16(2):139–172.
79.
WoonY. F.1983–1984 “The Voluntary Sojourner among the Overseas Chinese: Myth or Reality?”Pacific Affairs, 56(4):673–690.
80.
XuX. and LiS.1990“China's Open Door Policy and Urbanization in the Pearl River Delta Region”International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 14(1):49–69.
81.
XuX., LiuQ. and ZengX.1988a Zhujiang Sanjiaozhou Chengshi Huanjing yu Chengshi Fazhan (The Urban Environment and Urban Development of the Pearl River Delta Region). Guangzhou: Zhongshan University Press.
82.
XuX., LiuQ. and ZengX.1988b Zhujiang Sanjiaozhou de Fazhan yu Chengshihua (The Development and Urbanization of the Pearl River Delta Region). Guangzhou: Zhongshan University Press.
83.
YangC. K.1959A Chinese Village in Early Communist Transition.Cambridge, MA: M.I.T. Press.
84.
YangD.1991“China Adjusts to the World Economy: The Political Economy of China's Coastal Development Strategy,”Pacific Affairs, 64(1):42–64.
85.
YangD.1990“Patterns of China's Regional Development Strategy,”China Quarterly, 122:230–257. June.
86.
YangX. and GoldsteinS.1990“Population Movement in Zhejiang Province, China: The Impact of Government Policies,”International Migration Review, 24(3):509–533.
87.
ZafanolliW.1988“A Brief Outline of China's Second Economy.” In Transforming China's Economy in the Eighties, Vol. Two: Management, Industry, and the Urban Economy. Edited by FeuchtwangS., HussainA. and PairaultT.London: Zed Books Ltd. Pp. 138–155.
88.
ZelinkskyW.1983“The Impasse in Migration Theory: A Sketch Map for Potential Escapees.” In Population Movements: Their Forms and Functions in Urbanization and Development. Edited by MorrisonP. A.Leige: Ordina Editions.
89.
ZelinkskyW.1979“The Demographic Transition: Changing Patterns of Migration.” In Population Science in the Service of Mankind.Leige: International Union for the Scientific Study of Population. Pp. 165–189.
90.
ZelinkskyW.1971“The Hypothesis of Mobility Transition,”Geographical Review, 61(2):219–249.
91.
Zhongguo Tongji Nianjian (China Statistics Yearbook) 1990Beijing: National Statistics Bureau.
