China's internal migration has drawn extensive interest since the 1980s, and numerous studies have focused on migrant workers who are employed by the "world’s factories". However, less attention has been paid to migrant workers participating in the informal economy in urban China. In fact, the informal economy, which refers to income-generating activities that are not regulated by the state, has been estimated to have expanded dramatically over the past two decades, and migrant workers comprise the overwhelming majority of participants in the informal sector. These informals are mostly self-employed or paid employees working for informal factories hidden in the urban villages. This study, taking an urban village known as Kangle village in Guangzhou as its research site, adopts an ethnographic method to understand the lives of China's migrant workers engaged in the informal economy. It attempts to (1) examine the institutional environment for the expansion of the informal economy in urban China, (2) understand the individual choices of migrant workers in terms of being formal or informal, (3) explore their economic performance and (4) discover whether the informal economy could represent an alternative for migrant workers to achieve upward mobility in receiving cities. It is found that institutional factors, including policy practices of the state, regulation enforcement by local government and the relative autonomy of the migrant enclave all contribute to the development of the informal economy in urban China. Individual choices in being formal or informal are based primarily on participants' rational calculations comparing costs and benefits; howbeit these choices have actually been largely affected by the social networks of migrant workers. Migrant workers engaged in the informal economy receive relatively higher incomes than their counterparts in the formal sector. However, the higher monthly incomes for the wage employees in the informal economy can also be viewed as compensation for their willingness to undertake the risky, dirty, long-hour informal jobs. Social networks have also played an essential role in the economic performance of migrant workers in the informal economy. For instance, the strong social ties of migrant workers largely facilitate the process of becoming self-employed or migrant entrepreneurs by providing market information, financial support and labor resources. Also, the use of social networks reduces the transaction costs between different business owners in the informal sector where formal contracts are absent. Economic stratification among the migrant workers in the urban village is obvious, and a small number of migrants have achieved economic success by becoming self-employed or migrant entrepreneurs. Nonetheless, migrant entrepreneurship cannot continue to be a sustainable alternative for the majority of migrant workers to achieve upward mobility due to the vulnerability of the informal economy and the absence of institutional inclusion for the participants in the informal economy. It is thus suggested that society and government rethink and adjust current institutional settings to improve work conditions, promote entrepreneurship, and facilitate the formalization of the informal economy on the one hand; meanwhile initiate top-down reforms for the integration of migrant workers in both the formal and informal sectors. / published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Social Work and Social Administration / Master / Master of Philosophy

Rural-urban migration in China during the reform era since 1978 is considered the most massive migration in the history of humankind. This migration is creating complex problems that attract continuous and extensive academic investigations. This paper aims at reviewing some of the dynamics that have facilitated this migration and the resulting welfare problems associated with the rapid economic development and urbanization in China. The binary structure of China (not only limited to the economic aspect but also the political and social aspects), the ‘Three Rural Issues” and the Chinese Household Registration (hukou) System are the core factors leading to the rural urban disparities. The disparities have resulted in this massive migration and thus created the bi-polar welfare states between the rural and the urban sectors. The study provides an overview of the marginalization of the rural-urban migrants despite the Chinese leaders’ ongoing appeals to improve the welfare treatment of this group of people. The study focuses on the less studied location of Dongguan, considering that well over 80% of the population of Dongguan are rural migrants. In reviewing the selected welfare indications of the migrants, this study challenges the improvements that the migrants obtained. Comparisons are made between the migrants’ situation in Dongguan and in their hometowns. Comparisons are also made to the selected welfare indicators (wages, social insurances, housing and education) of the migrants and their urban counterparts. / published_or_final_version / China Development Studies / Master / Master of Arts in China Development Studies

published_or_final_version / abstract / Social Work and Social Administration / Master / Master of Philosophy

Hino, Midori. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 190-203). / Chapter Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1. --- Research Problem and Its Background --- p.1 / Research Problem / Background / Chapter 2. --- Theoretical Considerations --- p.9 / Ethnicity and Nationalism / Power Relation of Differences: Regional and Class / State Involution in Urban South China / Chapter 3. --- Methodology --- p.21 / Participant Observation and Interviews / Written Materials and Media Study / Chapter Chapter 2. --- Setting --- p.27 / Chapter 1. --- Historical Background of Foshan --- p.31 / A Long History / Development as a Commercial Town / Post 1949 Period / Chapter 2. --- Reform and Opening: A Rush to Modernization --- p.37 / Economic Achievement and Prosperous Life / Incentive toward High-Tech Industry / Immigration: Intellectuals and Laborers / Chapter Chapter 3. --- Rencai and Migration of Rencai: Its Sociocultural Meaning / Chapter 1. --- What Is Rencai? --- p.46 / Cadre and Rencai: Sociopolitical Aspect / Rencaixue: The Study of Rencai / Zhicheng: A Visible Criterion of Rencai / Popular Notion of Rencai / Economic Development and Rencai / The Commoditization and Marketization of Rencai: Rencai Job Market / Chapter 2. --- The Migration of Rencai into the Pearl River Delta --- p.69 / Who Are They? Why Do They Come? / Why Are They Hired? / What Are They Expected to Do in Foshan? / Chapter Chapter 4. --- Migrant Intellectuals in Foshan: Their Social Position and Individual Perspective / Chapter 1. --- Terminology --- p.79 / Locals / Migrants / Chapter 2. --- The History of Repeated Migration in Foshan --- p.87 / The Late Imperial Period: Migration of Merchants / The PRC Period: Migration of Cadres / The Reform Period: Migration of Intellectuals and Peasants / Chapter 3. --- Stories of Migrant Intellectuals --- p.94 / Aspiration / Action / Evaluation / "Sense of Loss and Sense of ""Cultural Authoritativeness""" / Chapter Chapter 5. --- Different Cultures as Social Resources --- p.117 / Chapter 1. --- Are Migrant Intellectuals Homogeneous? --- p.117 / Chapter 2. --- Interpretations of Cultural Differences --- p.118 / Language Difference / Different Thoughts and Behaviors / "Different Cultural Tastes,or Different ""Cultural Levels""" / Chapter 3. --- Resources Legitimated by the State --- p.161 / Sense of Legitimacy / Chapter Chapter 6. --- Conclusion: Local Culture and Identity in Transition / Chapter 1. --- New Cultural Alternatives in Foshan --- p.167 / "Language Shift: ""Getting Better""" / Life with Books: A Higher Culture? / Chapter 2. --- Reconciliation and Integration: Creating a Common Identity --- p.182 / Local Identity and National Identity / Two Aspects of Reconciliation: Ethnicity and Class / References Cited --- p.190

Abortion has become a common practice in modern China since the implementation of birth limitation policy in the 1950s. In recent decades, the growing prevalence of abortion among young unmarried migrant workers has aroused public concern. Socially, abortion among this group of young women is often seen as a reproductive health problem or anomalous phenomenon that needs to be managed and handled; at the individual level, abortion is singled out as a behavioural misconduct of young women, which signifies their moral failure. However, these indiscreet and injudicious perceptions fail to acknowledge the complexity and structural dynamics behind their choices.While past studies have examined abortion through perspectives including law, morality, policy and reproductive health, or analyzed its impact on macro politics and institutions at a societal level, few of them have looked into the authentic experiences of these women and examined the whole issue from the perspective of interpersonal and gender dynamics. To fill the gap of knowledge, the present study aims at comprehending this distinctive life event of women and reflecting women’s agency. Through conducting intensive ethnographic observation and in-depth interviews with 20 unmarried female migrant workers aged from 17 to 28 years old with diverse background, the underlining forces behind the occurrence of abortion are revealed, such as the influence of state family planning policy, the complex changes of lifestyle under market reform,and the heavy influence of partners and families on the decisions concerning marriage and childbirth. This study also traces the process within which abortion decisions are made, from sexual contacts, contraceptive uses, abortion decision-making,to the negotiation between partners, depicting women’s responses to structural constraints and how their choices are made under the influence of migration. / 人工流產(人流)議題一直是不同社會的關注焦點之一，它不但與婦女生殖健康和心理健康密切相關，同時亦涉及公共衛生及人口政策等領域。在中國，自五十年代計劃生育政策實施以降，人流成為解決意外懷孕的主要方法，近年來，未婚年輕女性的人流現象愈見普遍，當中不少是來自農村到城市打工的未婚流動女性，益發成為研究者關注的現象。有別於過去集中在人流的普遍性及對婦女生理健康的影響的定量研究，本研究以未婚流動女性的角度出發，以其第一身的敘述，理解她們的人流經歷及其在過程中展現的能動性。研究自去年六月進行，與二十位有人流經歷的未婚年輕女性進行深入訪談，以檢視其選擇避孕及決定人流的經過，瞭解她們與親密伴侶及雙方家庭在決定過程中的協調，同時透過觀察其生活環境、工作歷史，以及親密關係的互動方式與權力動態，以釐清政策、市場和人際動態在人流過程中所扮演的角色，及對這些女性的人流經歷所產生的影響。 / Lai, Yuen Shan. / Thesis M.Phil. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2014. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 117-124). / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on 11, October, 2016). / Lai, Yuen Shan. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only.

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Landscape Architecture

It has been widely documented that migrant labourers have made great contributions to the urban economy of China; as well, the explosive growth of rural-urban migrants has generated several "migration problems," such as growing social inequality in urban China. It is widely reported that a large number of migrants have returned to their places of origin, after several years of "urban life," and this trend has been accelerated after the global economic crisis after 2008. Consequently, the large number of return migrants have created many problems in the cities, such as labour shortage in the manufacturing industry, and also posed a huge challenge to the rural areas in the resettlement of these returnees. In sum, to understand both the migrants in destination cities and return migrants in their places of origin is of great importance for both urban and rural development in China. The research so far, on the understanding of migrants' behaviour and labour market outcomes in a multi-phased migration process, seems highly controversial and therefore, insufficient. This study, based on migrant survey data collected in Fujian Province, and return migrant interview data collected in Sichuan and Jiangxi Provinces, explores migrant labour market outcomes in the cities, as well as their geographical differentiation; migrant return intentions, and their gender differentiations; return behaviour and the resettlement situations of actual returnees. The results show that the multi-phased migration process of rural migrants in China is synthetically shaped by macro, meso, and micro factors, and by the interactions between these factors. To be more specific, findings of this study indicate that migrant labour markets in urban China are largely geographically differentiated according to several regional characteristics. The study also finds that a large proportion of rural-urban migrants intends to return to their places of origin. As well, their return intentions are significantly gender-differentiated. Finally, the resettlement situations of return migrants are closely connected to their migration experience. / ix, 160 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm

杜平. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 146-161) / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Du Ping.

published_or_final_version / Sociology / Master / Master of Philosophy