The Hukou Converters—China's lesser known rural to urban migrants

This article studies people born in rural China who now live in urban areas of China and possess a residence permit, an urban hukou; these are the hukou converters and they are examined using large datasets covering substantial parts of China in 2002. According to our estimates, there are 107 million hukou converters constituting 20% of the registered population of China's urban areas. Presence of a high employment rate in the city, that the city is small or medium-sized, and that the city is located in the middle or western part of China are factors which cause the ratio of hukou converters in the registered city population to be comparatively high. The probability of becoming a hukou converter is strongly linked to having parents with relatively high human and social capital and belonging to the ethnic majority. Compared to their rural-born peers left behind, as well as to migrants who have kept their rural hukou, the hukou converters have much higher per capita household incomes. Years of schooling and CPC membership contribute to this difference but most of the difference remains unexplained in a statistical sense, signalling large incentives to urbanise as well as to receive an urban hukou. While living a very different life from their peers left behind, the economic circumstances of China's hukou converters at the destination are, on average, similar to the urban-born population. Hukou converters who receive an urban hukou before age 25 do well in the labour market and we have reported indications that they actually overtake urban-born peers regarding earnings. In contrast, hukou migrants who receive an urban hukou after age 25 do not catch up with their urban-born counterparts in terms of earnings.     

Transnational Ties,HIV/AIDS Prevention and State–Minority Relations in Sipsongpanna,Southwest China

This paper depicts the transnational ethnic and religious ties between China and Southeast Asia and examines the cultural, political and economic implications for state–minority relations in Southwest China. It documents how transnational ethnic and religious ties facilitate cultural revival among the ethnic Dai people in Southwest China and examines the impact of Buddhist networks on local governance. In particular, it portrays the cooperative relationship between the Chinese state and the Buddhist Sangha on social issues such as HIV/AIDS prevention and care. The paper argues that the Chinese state is more willing to cooperate with transnational ethnic and religious groups when the latter can help improve local governance and generate economic development, under the condition that they do not challenge the state's ultimate legitimacy and authority.     

纽约的温州人

从20世纪80年代起,中国浙江温州人似一匹匹商业黑马,迅速活跃在世界各地。就美国纽约而言,20世纪70年代末,温州人不足5万,现在已达10余万之众。他们不仅在纽约形成了温州社区,而且还克服了身处异国的种种障碍,奠定了生活和事业的基础。纽约的温州人社团和商业活动都异常活跃。温州人是纽约地区近50万华人中较为引人注目的一个重要部分,他们为现代纽约的经济繁荣和发展做出了重要的贡献。他们中的少部分人已进入美国富裕的精英阶层,更多的人则跻身于美国中产阶级队伍,还有一部分人刚刚进步,行进在艰苦奋争的历程中。     

The Economics of Power Transitions: Australia between China and the United States

This article examines Sino–Australian economic relations, and their impact on the ties between the United States and Australia. First, drawing on power transition theory, it is argued that in a post-Cold War environment, economic ties play as great a role as strategic relations in determining the orientation of third-party states. Second, it is also argued that Australia's deeper economic and commercial ties with China have usurped a role previously held by the United States. This has forced Australia to pursue a bifurcated foreign policy—one split between its economic and national security needs. Third, these deeper ties with China have generated a degree of alliance drift between Australia and the United States. As a result, there is now a significant debate in Australia over the future of both bilateral relations—even as its space for policy innovation remains limited.     

China's consumer revolution: The 1990s and beyond

Since 1980 China's economic revolution has enabled more households to allocate labor to market‐related activities to earn more income. In 1992 an even greater surge in market economy growth took place when urban households began abandoning state‐related occupations and took their chances in the marketplace. The increase in consumer spending that followed reflects a new pattern of household spending for the first time in China since 1949: the share of spending for food relative to spending for other categories of goods and services is fast declining. This new trend, already strongly evident among high income‐earning households, is rapidly being replicated by other households as their incomes rise. During the 1990s new consumer patterns have emerged in the cities of the coastal provinces that strongly indicate that a consumer revolution is under way. This revolution has revived traditional gift‐giving between the Chinese people, thus facilitating the strengthening of their social, economic, and political ties and encouraging people to emphasize social and political stability.     

Local Governance and Business Associations in Wenzhou: a model for the road to civil society in China?

It is argued in our paper that current studies of civil society in China, which place too much emphasis on its ‘independence’, are neither practical nor conducive to the sound development of China's civil society, because an adversarial intensification is likely to arise between the state and society. As is shown in our empirical study, despite the fundamental control imposed by the government, Wenzhou Business Association is actively involved in industry governance, constantly empowered by the government, and thus gradually achieves growth and development. This leads to a conclusion that it appears to be a rather more realistic developmental path for China's civil society for associations to make full use of the government's expanding space and to actively participate in public governance.     

“城市新移民”公民权的缺失及回归探析

本文通过研究中国现代化进程中移居城市的农民工群体———城市新移民的公民权缺失与回归,旨在探析此群体公民权实现的方法和途径。运用马歇尔的公民权分类,主要从公民身份和社会变迁视角研究农民工到城市新移民的身份变化和在此过程中公民权的缺失,由此分析并得出公民权缺失的主要制度原因是户籍制度这一基本结论,并进一步探析了实现公民权的路径和方法,即必须消除社会排斥现象,保障城市新移民与城市原有居民享有同等的公民权,顺利实现该群体的城市融入。     

Urban Residents’ Prejudice and Integration of Rural Migrants into Urban China

Using data from a 2011 national household survey, this study examines the factors shaping urban residents’ prejudice toward rural-to-urban migrants and the impacts of prejudice on rural migrants’ integration into urban communities. The author addresses the endogeneity of the prejudice variable by employing an instrumental variable method. The results show that urban residents with higher education and household income report stronger prejudice. Also, urban residents with urban hukou at birth are more prejudiced toward rural migrants. Given that hukou status at birth is tied to parental hukou status, this result implies that prejudice can be transferred across generations. With regards to rural migrants’ integration into urban communities, high levels of prejudice in one’s current county of residence reduces perceived social standing of rural migrants and increases the number of livelihood problems they encounter. The author also conducts a falsification test, which provides support that the effect of urban residents’ prejudice on rural migrants’ integration is causal.     

State–Society Interdependence Model in Market Transition: a case study of the ‘Farmers’ City’ in Wenzhou during the early reform era

Based on first-hand field research data, this paper explores the construction of a ‘Farmers’ City’ in Wenzhou in the early 1980s. It studies the actors, their relationships, and the institutions, and proposes a ‘state–society interdependence model’. It concludes that the spontaneous, bottom-up urbanization process initiated by farmers as described in the texts was actually the win–win result of an interactive and interdependent relationship between the farmers and local government. The reasons are: (1) the actors, including the local government, the specialized farmers (zhuanye hu), and the other farmers, collectively owned, controlled, and obtained the resources; (2) in terms of the mobilization-response process, the close patron–client ties between the farmers and local government formed a strong interdependent relationship; and (3) in terms of the institutional reforms, the folk interests and demands were always a reference point for the local government. The farmers and their government were partners, participants, and practitioners in grassroots institutional reform.     

Village to Distant Village: the opportunities and risks of long-distance marriage migration in rural China

Recently much attention has focused on the rising tide of rural to urban migration in China. Some of this migration is inter-provincial, and some is merely a shift to the nearest big town or city. Much less is known about the effects of long-distance marriage between rural areas. This type of migration does not entail a shift to urban household registration, nor does it involve adaptation to city living. Distant rural migration is a phenomenon that often includes risk-taking women who marry into distant regions seeking a better life, or better opportunities, compared to their natal village. Yet these migrants typically remain farmers. Based on fieldwork in rural Henan and Yunnan I discuss cases of village women and men who had married at great distance from their natal kin. I observe some of the effects of family separation and social strategies adopted by migrants in rural settings. Much as urban migrants often face a world of uncertainties, those who migrate long-distance to other rural communities face a world of strangers with little legal or social protection.     

论城中村改造对其非正式经济的影响——以广州城中村改造为例

2009年底，广州市政府启动了大规模城中村改造，这种“运动式”改造，是在政府与市场合力推动下“改”起来的。以自发流动人口聚居区与非正式经济立足的城中村，区域空间形态与其非正式经济之间具有密切的关系。以空间形态为核心的改造，可能使原有非正式经济体系发生急剧转型或撤退，并给流动人口城市居住及生活以致命影响。由于城中村非正式经济拥有细分市场下的特定指向性，是城市弱势群体的基本经济方式，应拥有现背景下合理性生存空间。结合原有社区基础，引入更具有弹性与社会效益视野的城市更新理念，逐步实现城市改造，并为非正式经济留下必要生存发展条件，会更有利城市共赢发展。     

Migration and Health Constraints in China: a social strata analysis

Given the massive scale of internal migration in China, access to health services and other health issues not only matter to rural–urban migrants but also have important implications to broad public health concerns. Based on a case study of a particular migrant enclave in Beijing, the study investigates issues concerning environmental health risks of migrants, their health seeking behaviours, and the constraints they encountered in accessing health services with respect to the social strata among migrants. It is argued that the main obstacles to accessing health services are not only the shortage of financial resources among rural–urban migrants, but lie in the institutional blind spot regarding health security provision, rural–urban dualism and a unique household registration system in China. Implications for policy changes are also discussed.     

贵州民族地区城乡统筹与发展问题研究

本文在科学发展观的指导下,站在小康建设、民族共同发展繁荣与和谐社会建设的高度,分析、总结了贵州民族地区城乡发展的差距现状、不平衡表现并就相关影响因素进行了探析,最后就统筹贵州民族地区城乡社会经济等全面发展的路径与对策进行了思考。     

Complete autonomy: The best approach to peaceful resolution of the Tibet problem

Political, economic, cultural, and ethnic conflicts exist in Tibet and its surrounding areas. Peaceful resolution of the Tibet Problem will rely upon rationality of each side involved. The Tibet Problem has roots in the British invasion and in Mao Ze‐dong's historical mistake of replacing the Tibetan serfdom system with Communism. The welfare/carrot‐and‐stick policy used to govern Tibet since the 1980s has been proved ineffective for the social development in Tibet. The Dalai Lama's ‘Great Tibet’ claim will cause civil and ethnic wars among the Tibetans and between them and other Chinese ethnic groups. However, the Dalai Lama's ‘one country with two systems’ proposal that follows the Hong Kong model seems to be a realistic approach to a peaceful resolution of the Tibet Problem.     

Labor Migration,Gender, and the Rise of Neo-Local Marriages in the Economic Boomtown of Dongguan,South China

In the past two decades, migration has become a quintessential feature defining the identity and life experiences of millions of young rural women who have left their home villages and migrated to urban areas for wage labor in China. However, due to the combined effects of the state-instituted hukou system and women's traditional gender roles of childcare and household duties, many female migrants face difficult choices when it is time for them to get married. In this study I examine the rise of a new marriage form among migrant couples in Dongguan, a newly industrializing boomtown in the Pearl River Delta of Guangdong province. I call this marriage a neo-local marriage as migrant couples set up their post-marital residence in a destination locale that is thousands of miles away from their hometowns. I first describe some of the new features of neo-local marriages for young migrant couples in Dongguan. I then explore Dongguan's boomtown status in the new economy, the changing labor market, and young migrants' agency as new forces behind the rise of this new marriage form. Finally I discuss both the potential transformative power of a neo-local marriage for young female migrants and the risks and constraints of this marriage for them as well.     

The Poverty of Social Rights and Dilemmas of Urban Poverty in China

This article, drawing references from popular theories of social exclusion, capability and civil rights, develops a concept—the poverty of social rights—in the causal analysis of poverty. The author believes that deficiency of economic resources and working capability are not the only reasons for urban poverty; in fact, the lack of social rights on the part of the disadvantaged sectors of society constitutes simultaneously the cause and consequence of urban poverty. The article defines the concept of poverty of social rights and its characteristics, and analyzes its China phenomenon. In the end the article poses several options and remedies for China's poverty-relief efforts through designing and implementing a Chinese-style affirmative action.     

城市民族的多样化--以少数民族人口迁移对城市的影响为例

民族的历史和城市的历史一样源远流长。1980年以来,中国城市里的流动和常住少数民族人口约有900万左右,已形成了成百上千大大小小的居住群落,城市民族形成多样化格局。城市中少数民族迁移者并不只是被动地适应城市,他们在就业和创业过程中也给城市做出了巨大的贡献。他们也是城市建设和发展不可缺少的生力军。     

What Affects China's National Image? A cross-national study of public opinion

This paper investigates macro-level sources of variations across countries regrading China's national image, as measured by the proportion of the public in each of 35 countries that expressed a favorable view of China in the 2007 Pew Global Attitudes Survey. It turns out that several expected factors have no significant measurable impact on China's image: not the extent of strategic ties between China and a given country; not the political system of that country; not the extent of Chinese investment in the country; and not the number of Confucius institutes and classrooms in that country. The only macro-level factor we find to affect China's image in a country is that country's level of economic and social development, as measured by the UN Human Development Index. Controlling for the other factors, publics in poor or developing countries are much more likely to have a favorable image of China than publics in economically advanced countries. Some implications of our findings are discussed.     

‘Place’ Construction: innovative reworking of fiction in recent Chinese films

How can film become a tool of ‘conservation of remembrance’ and be a part of rescuing and rebuilding of cultural and communal memories? Taking a cue from recent ecologically oriented debate on modernity, this paper will focus on memories through films on rural localities that intently counter the trauma of urban migration and dislocation in and around local ‘dwellings’. By looking at recent Chinese films like Dai Sijie's Little Chinese Seamstress and Huo Jianqi's Postmen in the Mountains, I discuss the directors' emotive re-imaging of local and folk architecture and landmarks so as to dispel feelings of displacement resulted from frenzied urban booming, and posit an emotive ‘embedding’ linking urban migrants to their nostalgic home dwellings. These visual narratives consciously negotiate over the emotive terrains between memoirs of local landscape and nagging issues of poverty and backwardness, between tourist exoticism and ‘emotion pictures’, between progress and preservation, and between the lure of global consumer culture and the beckoning of local and nascent ‘dwellings’.     

America,China and Taiwan: three challenges for Chen Shui-Bian

This study analyzes several of the major challenges that the Taiwanese government will confront during President Chen Shui-bian's second term of office. These include serious strains in relations with the US, a continued deterioration in ties with the People's Republic of China (PRC) and increased political polarization, ethnic division and gridlock at home. The author suggests that, while these problems are certainly formidable, they should not be exaggerated. Nor should they be attributed solely to one politician or political camp.