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This study uses mixed methodologies to reveal how structural and cultural changes are changing the connotations of home and aging in rural China. Based on surveys (n = 830) and 33 intensive interviews with older migrant workers, this study found that having rural public pensions, adult children living nearby, and owning land in their hometowns were associated with the respondents' desire for aging in place (AIP). Moreover, although the image of the rural home is idyllic, the reality is difficult. Aging migrant workers are gaining a strong sense of financial independence and their children's lack of parental care. The authors argue that having no social-care services, while adult children are rarely available for old-age care, is changing the connotations of AIP in rural China. These social and cultural transformations are making AIP more of a romantic ideal than a practical reality for migrant workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BackgroundTransforming rural migrant workers’ consumption potential into a consumption booster requires ensuring their equal rights as urban residents. The adequate access to Basic Public Health Services (BPHS) help effectively tackle rural migrant workers’ health challenges and promote the well-being of this vulnerable population. Assessing the welfare effects of BPHS through a consumption perspective offers valuable insights and provides policy implications for enhancing the equity of BPHS and achieving common prosperity.MethodsUtilizing the household-level data from China Migrants Dynamic Survey 2017 (CMDS 2017), this study comprehensively evaluated the effects of BPHS on rural migrant workers’ household consumption by combining the methods of OLS, PSM, and IV.ResultsThe enhancement of BPHS promotes rural migrant workers’ household consumption even after considering endogeneity problems. Mechanism analysis indicates that BPHS imposes its positive effects on rural migrant workers through improving health literacy and increasing citizenization willingness. Furthermore, we identified heterogeneous effects across individual and household characteristics of rural migrant workers, and their flow patterns.ConclusionOur analysis indicates that BPHS plays a greater role in promoting household consumption of socially vulnerable groups, such as trans-provincial migration, rural migrant workers in old generations, and with lower-level income. Overall, these results suggest that the welfare effects of BPHS are inclusive in China.

Talent revitalization is the basis of rural revitalization, and the return of migrant workers to their hometowns is a critical way to improve rural human capital. Based on the perspective of individual–family interaction and collaboration, we constructed a theoretical model for maximizing the net benefits of rural migrant workers. Then, we use it to explore the impact of family support pressure and urban housing purchase on individuals' homecoming decisions. Firstly, we find the odds ratio of migrant workers with support pressure to return home is 14.013 times higher than those without, and the odds ratio of migrant workers with urban housing is 42.94% lower than those without. Secondly, in the process of supporting, the family, as a link between individuals and rural society, can enhance the connection for migrant workers, thus promoting their return behavior. The mediating effect of hometown connection is 1.342, accounting for 50.83% of the total effect. However, buying a house in the city reduces individuals' homecoming behaviors by encouraging "trailing spouse". Thirdly, individuals' homecoming intention is not consistent with their behavior. The moderating effect of a future house purchase plan changes the influence of support pressure on individuals' intention to return home to some extent. Finally, we should further strengthen rural infrastructure construction and elderly care service supply to reasonably guide capable and willing talents to return to the township. This study provides some implications for the revitalization of rural talent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental regulation is an essential policy tool to curb environmental pollution, promote green and low-carbon transformation, and achieve the economic and social benefits of environmental policy under China's strategic goal of high-quality economic development. However, whether environmental regulation will promote rural migrant workers' job quality while improving the environmental quality has become a pivotal issue in achieving this goal. Based on theoretical analysis and data from the 2016–2018 China Migrants Dynamic Survey, this study explored how environmental regulations help solve ecological issues and improve job quality by estimating the influence of environmental regulation on the job quality of rural migrant workers, its mechanisms, and its heterogeneous effects on intergenerational differences based on gender, educational level, and spouse's registered residence. The results showed that environmental regulation significantly improves the job quality of rural migrant workers. This positive effect can be explained by industrial structure upgrading and industrial digital transformation accelerated by environmental policies under China's national economic development strategy. Further analysis indicated that heterogeneity exists between generations. The impact of environmental regulation on the job quality of the traditional generation (i.e., migrant workers born prior to the 1978 economic reform and opening of China) is more significant than that of the new generation (i.e., those born after 1978) for males, undergraduate or junior college educational level, and spouse with a local registered residence. However, environmental regulation substantially affects the job quality of the new generation more than that of the traditional generation in terms of females, educational level of high school or below, and non-local spouses. Our findings have implications for the Chinese government's formulation of differential employment policies for rural migrant workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background While reducing inequity in health service utilization is an important goal of China’s health system, it has been widely acknowledged that a huge number of rural migrant workers cannot be effectually protected against risks with the New Rural Cooperative Medical Insurance (NCMS). Method Data of the 2016 China Labor-force Dynamic Survey and the Chinese Urban Statistical Yearbook were used. The multilevel regression approach was implemented with a nationally representative sample of rural migrant workers with NCMS. Our study adopted the concentration index and its decomposition method to quantify the inequality of their health service utilization. Result The multilevel model analysis indicated that impact variables for health service utilization were not concentrated, especially the contextual and individual characteristics. The concentration indices of the probability of two weeks outpatient and the probability of inpatient were -0.168 (95%CI:-0.236,-0.092) and -0.072 (95%CI:-1.085,-0.060), respectively. The horizontal inequality indices for the probability of two-week outpatient and the probability of inpatient were -0.012 and 0.053, respectively. Conclusion The health service utilization of rural migrant workers with NCMS is insufficient. Our study highlighted that substantial inequalities in their health service utilization did exist. In addition, their need of health service utilization increased the pro-poor inequality. Based on the findings, our study offered notable implications on compensation policies and benefit packages to improve the equality among rural migrant workers with NCMS.

Introduction: With the rapid development of China’s “gig economy,” the on-call work model has grown increasingly prevalent in China and has attracted a large number of rural migrant workers with its low employment threshold. However, this irregular employment mode may negatively impact the mental health of workers. Methods: This paper uses an ordinal logistic regression model to study the relationship between Chinese rural migrant workers’ on-call work and their depression. Results: The results showed that after controlling for relevant variables, the odds ratio of depressive mood among rural migrant workers engaged in on-call work was 1.22 (95% CI 1.04–1.43) compared with rural migrant workers who did not need to be on call. In further heterogeneity research, we found that on-call work is more likely to aggravate the depression risk of rural migrant workers who are highly dependent on the internet and have low-wage incomes. Discussion: This research suggests that appropriate measures should be taken to mitigate the negative impact of on-call work on the mental health of rural migrant workers, and more attention needs to be paid to the mental health of lower salaried and gig workers. This paper provides a valuable sample of Chinese rural migrant workers for theoretical research on the relationship between on-call work and mental health and confirms the relationship between the two. These results contribute new ideas to the theory and practice of psychological crisis intervention aimed at Chinese rural migrant workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the deepening of rural aging and the increasing role of human capital in the non-agricultural employment labor market, this paper uses the data of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), ordinary least squares (OLS) and instrumental variable method (IV) to try to examine the impact of rural migrant workers' education on their parents' health. Since a rural family may include more than one child, a sample of migrant workers with a high education level is used in the benchmark regression, and a sample of migrant workers with a low education level is used to test the robustness of the relationship. The results showed that the education of migrant workers had a significant positive impact on parents' health. The sample with the least education was used for the robustness, and the results did not change. The IV-probit method is used to address potential endogeneity, and the results remain stable. Heterogeneity analysis shows that there are significant differences in the impact of migrant workers' education on the health of parents from different groups. This positive effect has a greater impact on the health of parents who are older, less educated, and do not live with their children. Mediation analysis shows that children's economic ability, captured by income and work type, and their parents' health behavior, captured by sleep, alcohol consumption, and physical examinations, mediate this relationship. Thus, migrant workers' education affects their parents' health mainly through relaxing budget constraints and improving their parents' health production efficiency. In addition, this paper also found that education of migrant workers may significantly increase parental depression. Based on the above analysis, this paper argues that increasing investment in rural education is conducive to improving the health of migrant farmers' parents, thereby promoting the transfer of rural labor to non-agricultural industries and cities, curbing the rapid rise in labor costs, and promoting the healthy development of the economy.

Talent revitalization is the basis of rural revitalization, and the return of migrant workers to their hometowns is a critical way to improve rural human capital. Based on the perspective of individual–family interaction and collaboration, we constructed a theoretical model for maximizing the net benefits of rural migrant workers. Then, we use it to explore the impact of family support pressure and urban housing purchase on individuals’ homecoming decisions. Firstly, we find the odds ratio of migrant workers with support pressure to return home is 14.013 times higher than those without, and the odds ratio of migrant workers with urban housing is 42.94% lower than those without. Secondly, in the process of supporting, the family, as a link between individuals and rural society, can enhance the connection for migrant workers, thus promoting their return behavior. The mediating effect of hometown connection is 1.342, accounting for 50.83% of the total effect. However, buying a house in the city reduces individuals’ homecoming behaviors by encouraging “trailing spouse”. Thirdly, individuals’ homecoming intention is not consistent with their behavior. The moderating effect of a future house purchase plan changes the influence of support pressure on individuals’ intention to return home to some extent. Finally, we should further strengthen rural infrastructure construction and elderly care service supply to reasonably guide capable and willing talents to return to the township. This study provides some implications for the revitalization of rural talent.

Previous studies have revealed that stereotyping processes involving negative affective content (e.g., antipathy) can lead to a significant increase in insula activity. However, whether the insula is sensitive to stereotype inconsistency or plays a crucial role in stereotype regulation remains unclear. To help fill this gap, 21 young adults were presented with a modified single-category implicit association test (SC-IAT) that assessed their stereotypes about rural migrant workers. In a within-subjects design, participants completed separate blocks of compatible and incompatible trials, each of which consisted of stereotype-consistent or stereotype-inconsistent trait labels that had a positive or a negative valence. Functional MRI was used to identify specific brain regions associated with negative and positive stereotyping. The behavioral results revealed a typical stereotype regulation effect in which participants responded slower to stereotype-inconsistent condition than stereotype-consistent condition, although such effect was significantly modulated by IAT compatibility, rather than by emotional valence. MRI results revealed that activity in the right insula was significantly sensitive to stereotype regulation processes in negative incompatible tasks, whereas such effect was marginally significant in positive incompatible tasks. Moreover, psychophysiological interaction analyses indicated complex functional connectivity among the right insula and cognitive control regions [e.g., ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC)], social mentalizing regions [medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC)], and motivation regions (putamen) in the condition where negative stereotypes were violated. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that the right insula serves as a crucial node in regulating implicit stereotyping, particularly in negative stereotyping tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: While reducing inequity in health service utilization is an important goal of China's health system, it has been widely acknowledged that a huge number of rural migrant workers cannot be effectually protected against risks with the New Rural Cooperative Medical Insurance (NCMS).Method: Data of the 2016 China Labor-force Dynamic Survey and the Chinese Urban Statistical Yearbook were used. The multilevel regression approach was implemented with a nationally representative sample of rural migrant workers with NCMS. Our study adopted the concentration index and its decomposition method to quantify the inequality of their health service utilization.Result: The multilevel model analysis indicated that impact variables for health service utilization were not concentrated, especially the contextual and individual characteristics. The concentration indices of the probability of two weeks outpatient and the probability of inpatient were -0.168 (95%CI:-0.236,-0.092) and -0.072 (95%CI:-1.085,-0.060), respectively. The horizontal inequality indices for the probability of two-week outpatient and the probability of inpatient were -0.012 and 0.053, respectively.Conclusion: The health service utilization of rural migrant workers with NCMS is insufficient. Our study highlighted that substantial inequalities in their health service utilization did exist. In addition, their need of health service utilization increased the pro-poor inequality. Based on the findings, our study offered notable implications on compensation policies and benefit packages to improve the equality among rural migrant workers with NCMS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explores Chinese rural migrant workers' perceived value of tourism from a social tourism perspective. The findings are based on 20 semi‐structured interviews and highlight the benefits that tourism can bring to Chinese rural migrant workers. Theoretically, the study led to the developed of a six‐dimension life work social self‐realization emotional epistemic scale that shows Chinese rural migrant workers' perceived value of tourism based on life value, work value, social value, self‐realization value, emotional value, and epistemic value. Practically, the research provides useful suggestions for government on policy development and opportunities for the design of tourism products for Chinese rural migrant workers. This study challenges the existing understanding of perceived value, which has highlighted tourism value from a macro perspective but neglected to look at perceived value on a micro or individual level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a recently constructed dataset that draws on the China Employer–Employee Survey, this paper provides new evidence on the earnings gap between rural migrant and urban manufacturing workers in the People's Republic of China. When we only control for province fixed effects, we find that rural migrant workers are paid 22.3% less per month and 32.2% less per hour than urban workers. We find that the gap in hourly earnings is larger than the gap in monthly earnings because rural migrant workers tend to work an average of 5.6% more hours per month than urban workers. Using these data, we also find that 87.4% of the monthly earnings gap and 73.9% of the hourly earnings gap can be attributed to differences in the individual characteristics and human capital levels of rural migrant and urban workers. Furthermore, we find that this unexplained earnings gap varies among different groups of workers. The earnings gap is much larger (i) for workers in state-owned enterprises than in nonstate-owned enterprises, (ii) for college-educated workers than workers with lower levels of educational attainment, and (iii) in Guangdong province than in Hubei province.

This study explores the interaction between rural migrant workers' (RMWs) language ideologies, linguistic identities and their family language planning activities in China. Focusing on language choices of RMW parents and their children, the study involves eight families who migrated from rural to urban areas. Data were collected through home observations, recorded family conversations and semi-structured interviews. The findings reveal that RMWs experience conflicting identities instantiated by their language choices and language practices. Tangled in multiple identities, such as temporary urban residents, undereducated low-paid labourers, homesick rural-urban migrants and trustworthy employees, they frequently face the predicament of having to choose between either Putonghua (the official language in China, also known as the common speech) or hometown fangyans (also known as regional dialects) or local fangyans to deal with everyday issues. The association between identities and language ideologies drive RMWs to intentionally use Putonghua as language management strategy at home. Consequently, the language choices of both parents and their children show a shift from fangyan to Putonghua. The findings also suggest that parental language ideologies and planning activities in home domains are shaped by macro social systems, public discourse and language planning at a national level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As China's urbanization process accelerates, the social integration of its mobile population has attracted increasing attention from researchers. Social participation is crucial for gauging social integration, with group identity and social exclusion as push and pull forces. However, existing studies have predominantly focused on qualitative and regional analyses, failing to capture the broader picture of the mobile population's social participation. The study utilizes data from 169,989 respondents in the 2017 China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS 2017), integrating group identity and social exclusion concepts into a unified analytical framework. It examines their effects on the social participation of the mobile population and tests their interaction between these factors. These findings reveal that group identity significantly enhances social participation. Conversely, social exclusion hinders it. Moreover, group identity and social exclusion interact significantly, affecting social participation. A strong group identity can mitigate the adverse effects of social exclusion, which can diminish the positive impact of group identity. Additionally, the study uncovers intergenerational, working distances, and social strata variations in the effects of group identity and social exclusion on social participation. • First, this study explores the social integration of migrants in China, offering additional research insights. • Second, existing research on migrants' social integration, identity recognition, and social exclusion predominantly utilizes qualitative, regional approaches, lacking empirical analysis leveraging large datasets. This paper aims to fill this methodological gap. • Third, this paper introduces a comprehensive framework that amalgamates group identity and social exclusion to assess social integration and participation. • Enhancing the research framework, the study adopts the "push-pull" dynamic between group identity and social exclusion as its analytical lens. Employing a dataset of 1,699,899 migrant samples, it conducts an empirical analysis to investigate the effects of group identity and social exclusion on social participation among Chinese migrants, including examining their interactive effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study employs the haze data and micro-level data from China Migrant Data Survey to examine the relations of haze pollution, intergenerational migration experience and settlement intentions of rural migrant workers. We identify that there is an inverted-U relationship between haze pollution on rural migrant workers' settlement intention; the threshold for this inverted U-shaped relationship is 31; migrants are more likely to settle while haze pollution grows below the threshold; but they are more likely to leave while haze pollution increases above the threshold. Further, this study finds that intergenerational migration experience increases individual's perception of haze pollution. The results show that the impact of haze pollution on settlement intention of first-time rural migrant workers and those whose parents do not have migration experience is not significant. But the inverted U-shape effect remains significant for individuals with multiple migration experience and those whose parents have migration experience. Finally, compared to migration experience of father, that of mother exerts a more significant impact on individual's perception of haze. • Examining the relations of haze pollution, intergenerational migration experience and settlement intentions of rural migrant workers. • Matching the city-level haze data in China from the database of Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) with that of China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS). • As long as the haze pollution is bearable, rural migrant workers will settle in their destination city in pursuit of economic benefits; once the haze pollution becomes too severe to bear, rural migrant workers will decrease their settlement intention to seek health. • We find that intergenerational migration experience increase individual's perception of haze pollution. • Compared to migration experience of father, that of mother exerts a more significant impact on individual's perception of haze. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The health problems of rural migrant workers have received more and more attention from government, society, and academia in recent years. OBJECTIVE: By integrating social role theory and interpersonal relationship theory, this study investigates the underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions that explain the effects of income and working time on the health of rural migrant workers. METHODS: Data from 310 rural migrant workers in four cities of Hebei Province were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). RESULTS: Results show that (1) life stress mediated the influence of income and working time on health; (2) marital status moderated the relationship between two independent variables (income and working time) and mediator (life stress): the relationship between income and life stress was much stronger for unmarried rural migrant workers than the married; the relationship between working time and life stress was much more significant for married rural migrant workers than the unmarried; (3) one indirect relationship (income-life stress-health) was moderated by marital status: the indirect relationship between income and health was much stronger for unmarried rural migrant workers than the married. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides some ideas for future research on the health problems of migrant workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares energy consumption (electricity, gasoline, and gas) by rural migrant workers and urban residents with a hukou (a China-specific household registration system) and influential factors (including quality-of-life [QOL]-related factors, built environment, and individual and household attributes) in China. A questionnaire survey was conducted in Dalian (a coastal city) in 2014 and in Guiyang (an inland city) in 2015, respectively. A zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) model was applied to understand whether and how much people consume a certain type of energy. The results showed that built environment explains 8.4–21.8% and 6.3–41.4% of the total variance in energy consumption by rural migrant workers and urban residents with a hukou. The corresponding variance related to QOL-related factors was 9.1–15.8% and 4.1–22.6%, respectively. The built environment was mostly associated with electricity consumed by urban residents with a hukou, while its influences on other types of energy consumption were moderate. Mixed effects of both built environment and QOL-related factors on reducing energy consumption were observed. Thus, it is context-sensitive whether and how much compact city development and social security policy affect residents' energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background The rampant urbanization and medical marketization in China have resulted in increased vulnerabilities to health and socioeconomic disparities among the rural migrant workers in urban China. In the Chinese context, the socioeconomic characteristics of rural migrant workers have attracted considerable research attention in the recent past years. However, to date, no previous studies have explored the association between the socioeconomic factors and social security among the rural migrant workers in urban China. This study aims to explore the association between socioeconomic inequity and social security inequity and the subsequent associations with medical inequity and reimbursement rejection. Methods Data from a regionally representative sample of 2009 Survey of Migrant Workers in Pearl River Delta in China were used for analyses. Multiple logistic regressions were used to analyze the impacts of socioeconomic factors on the eight dimensions of social security (sick pay, paid leave, maternity pay, medical insurance, pension insurance, occupational injury insurance, unemployment insurance, and maternity insurance) and the impacts of social security on medical reimbursement rejection. The zero-inflated negative binomial regression model (ZINB regression) was adopted to explore the relationship between socioeconomic factors and hospital visits among the rural migrant workers with social security. Results The study population consisted of 848 rural migrant workers with high income who were young and middle-aged, low-educated, and covered by social security. Reimbursement rejection and abusive supervision for the rural migrant workers were observed. Logistic regression analysis showed that there were significant associations between socioeconomic factors and social security. ZINB regression showed that there were significant associations between socioeconomic factors and hospital visits among the rural migrant workers. Also, several dimensions of social security had significant associations with reimbursement rejections. Conclusions This study showed that social security inequity, medical inequity, and reimbursement inequity happened to the rural migrant workers simultaneously. Future policy should strengthen health justice and enterprises’ medical responsibilities to the employed rural migrant workers.

Since the late 1980s, millions of poor and low-income rural migrant workers migrating to Chinese metropolises with their children have congregated in chengzhongcun (villages in the city) for low-cost housing. Drawing on data from a 14-month participant observation in one chengzhongcun in Beijing, we critically explore the potential impact of urban expansion on social mobility of migrant youth. We argue that the uncertainty and chaos connected with looming demolition result in substandard schooling and business closures for migrant parents, leading to the stagnant mobility of migrant youth. Expanding the social hierarchy pyramids, we argue that eliminating chengzhongcun, a space that creates the possibility of climbing the social ladder, hampers the social mobility of migrant youth in the context of the rigid class structure in the late-socialist China. This research re-examines the goals of the demolition of chengzhongcun and advances our understanding by analyzing the prospects of disadvantaged migrant youth during and after the demolition process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the association of rural schooling with empowerment of female rural migrant workers in remote Western China. It asks what school-related intrinsic and instrumental capabilities enhanced their urban lives and their role as 'drivers for development' in urbanizing China. The analysis of a long-term observational study of the females of one cluster of villages shows that recently-arrived (2015) young rural new-migrant workers manifested enhanced capabilities associated with their schooling in four dimensions of social freedoms: protective security against early arranged marriage, enhanced occupational opportunity, constructive social arrangements founded in rural identity, and cognitive and aspirational capabilities. Lower educational attainment and achievement are associated with fewer and weaker empowerment capabilities across all dimensions. Political empowerment capabilities in the sense of civil rights and entitlements have no foundation in earlier education and are lacking in their urban lives. However, a sense of 'voice' is beginning to take hold among young rural migrant women. Taking a female-centric capability perspective uncovers beneficial aspects of internal migration, contributing to a more holistically theorized understanding of associated social changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines a relatively new genre in Chinese literature: migrant worker poetry. These are poems written by rural migrant workers who have, since the economic reform and opening up of the early 1980s, moved to China's booming cities in search of work in factories, mines and construction. The difficulties that these workers face are manifold, from exploitation of their labor and lack of welfare protection to an inability to make their voices and hardships heard. How best to represent this vast and oppressed demographic (an estimated 280 million rural migrants) has been at the heart of China's social and political debate for the last 30 years. I argue that migrant worker poetry has been both overlooked and underestimated, not only for its emergent quality, but for its ability to address problems of representation -- these worker poets eloquently represent themselves. By making use of online platforms they not only bear witness to the damaging myth of social mobility that motivates so many to seek work on the assembly lines, but they are able to challenge it directly, publishing their own sublimated suffering for each other and for society at large. The scope of this study is limited to the poems in Iron Moon, a 2017 anthology of migrant worker poems translated into English by Eleanor Goodman; it excludes novels, short stories or autobiographies by migrant workers that could be included in the wider genre of "worker literature". I hope, however, that an examination of these poems demonstrates that the simultaneous emergence of the internet with China's rapid industrialization has both created and enabled a vital new movement in the history of China's working-class literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Focusing on China, which has a special household registration system (called hukou ), this study examines the likely effects of the China’s National New-type Urbanization Plan (2014–2020) on rural migrant workers’ intentions to reside permanently in cities and their future energy consumption preference. Questionnaire surveys were conducted in 2014 and 2015 among rural migrant workers and residents with a hukou in three cities (985 migrants and 671 residents with a hukou). Analysis results show that 39% of migrant workers intended to reside permanently in cities under the aforementioned plan, and the current energy consumption of residents with a hukou is 1.2–4.0 times higher than that of rural migrant workers. Further analyses based on structural equation models confirm that migrants’ current less-satisfied life experience and lower level of viability in cities hinder them to become a permanent urban resident. Unexpectedly, migrants’ permanent residence intentions do not affect their future energy consumption preference, which is however mostly affected by their confidence and barriers to become a permanent resident, especially future concerns about health and lack of social security in their current daily life. Finally, it is argued that studies on rural migrants should pay more attention to capability-concerned and life-oriented aspects, which are useful to derive important insights into cross-sectoral energy policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since market-oriented economic reform was launched in China in the 1980s, unemployment has been recognized by the government. This paper focuses on the differences in joblessness in rural and urban areas between rural migrant workers, peasants, and urban citizens. The results indicate that people in rural areas frequently lose their jobs, which differs from the traditional perception. There is a significantly lower jobless rate in urban areas. In contrast to the results of previous studies, the employment situation of rural migrant workers is closer to urban citizens rather than peasants. Logistic regression results show that the elderly, women, and less educated citizens have a higher likelihood of joblessness, both in urban and rural areas. Minorities have a lower likelihood of joblessness in rural areas and a higher likelihood in urban areas. Chinese Communist Party members and people without dependent children have a lower likelihood of joblessness in urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China, many rural migrant workers live in urbanising villages that are usually located in peripheral areas of major cities. Different from the spatial mismatch literature in which locations of minorities in the US are constrained by racial discrimination in the housing market, the residential segregation of rural migrant workers in China is largely due to China’s unique institutional context (e.g. land tenure system, hukou system) and the exclusionary housing regulations. Those living in these urbanising villages could incur both negative spatial mismatch effects and positive spillover effects. Through a survey across four mega-regions in China that are currently experiencing the most rapid urbanisation, we collect unique information on rural migrant workers’ attitudes towards living in urbanising villages, and therefore are able to address the self-selection bias that has broadly existed in many previous studies on residential segregation and spatial mismatch. The models show that the net effect of residential segregation in urbanising villages on migrant workers’ employment outcomes (both employment propensity and wage) appears to be positive, suggesting the spillover effects override the spatial mismatch effects. Current policy proposals by government officials to demolish urbanising villages should be accompanied by alternative policies to assist with housing migrant workers in appropriate locations that not only reduce spatial mismatch effects but also maintain positive spillover effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on a social constructionist approach and Philipsen's theoretical framework of cultural communication, this study examines how rural–urban migrant workers in China construct the meaning of home in their communication about migration. Interviews with migrant workers and participant observation of their everyday conversations reveal that migrant workers frequently evoke a cultural code of home attachment and actively construct a political code of displacement to construe their prolonged liminality between the city and the countryside. Implications for studying the use of culturally specific and politically situated discursive practices to address common challenges of displacement are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of this article is to investigate the gender differences of rural migrant workers participating in social insurance involving three social protection models in four Chinese cities. The results show that, of the three models, the inclusive model has the highest participation rate and the independent model has the lowest. In general there are few gender differences in social insurance coverage. For both male and female participants, the factors which influence the participation of rural migrant workers in social insurance systems are age, income, education, enterprise ownership, labor contract, occupational mobility, and location. However, the relative importance of these factors in participation in social insurance is differentiated by gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent surge of rural migrants has attracted a great deal of attention from scholars both in and outside China. Various disciplines, including economics, political science, sociology, and anthropology have all exhibited a strong interest in this topic. In addition to academic writing, creative literature also focuses on the rural migrants. Encouraged by Xinran's recent book Miss Chopsticks, this paper criticizes the book's oversimplification of the experiences of the rural migrant workers and the monolithic way the book provided of understanding rural migrant female workers as docile laborers. In revisiting Miss Chopsticks, after a close and critical reading with the help of other scholars' discussion on Chinese women's agency and power, the paper argues that Xinran's writing of female rural migrant workers created three misunderstandings: 1) Chinese women, in particular rural women, hardly have any agency in terms of actively constructing their own futures, 2) few tensions exist between the economic reform and the understanding of rural migrant workers' identities, and 3) the only way to understand power is in terms of domination and control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conceptual article contributes to institutional analysis and the neo-institutional theory literature by identifying and analysing the linked rules, values, norms and patterned practices that surround and structure the way rural migrant workers are treated in urban areas of China in terms of Scott's integrated model of institutions. It argues that these hukou-based rules, values, norms and patterned practices that discriminate against rural migrants can be considered to be a unique institution - the institution of hukou-based social exclusion ( IHSE). IHSE has dominated Chinese urban society for 3 decades and significantly shaped the lives of millions of rural migrant workers, the character of contemporary China and the nature of managerial practices among Chinese firms. This is the first article to examine the social exclusion of rural workers from the perspective of neo-institutionalism, providing the first systematic analysis of the regulative, normative and cognitive dimensions that together socially exclude migrants in urban areas of China. It presents a holistic picture of the newly identified institution that offers new insights into China's urban society and management, and a new starting point for research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Today's rapid growth of migrant populations has been a major contributor to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic. However, relatively few studies have focused on HIV/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related knowledge, attitudes, and practice among rural-to-urban migrants in China. This cross-sectional study was to assess HIV/AIDS-related knowledge and perceptions, including knowledge about reducing highrisk sex. Methods Two-phase stratified cluster sampling was applied and 2,753 rural migrants participated in this study. An anonymous self-administered questionnaire was conducted in Guangdong and Sichuan provinces in 2007. Descriptive analysis was used to present the essential characteristics of the respondents. Chi-square test and multiple logistic regression models were performed to examine the associations between identified demographic factors and high-risk sex, sexually transmitted disease (STD) symptoms, and access to HIV screening services among the seven types of workers. Results 58.6% of participants were knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS transmission, but approximately 90% had a negative attitude towards the AIDS patients, and that 6.2% had engaged in highrisk sex in the past 12 months. Logistic regression analysis revealed sex, marital status, income, migration and work experience to be associated with high-risk sex. Among the 13.9% of workers who reported having STD symptoms, risk factors that were identified included female gender, high monthly income, being married, daily laborer or entertainment worker, frequent migration, and length of work experience. Only 3% of migrant workers received voluntary free HIV screening, which was positively associated with monthly income and workplace. Conclusions HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes, and practices among rural migrants in China remain a thorny health issue, and use of healthcare services needs to be improved. Low levels of education and knowledge regarding HIV/AIDS among housekeepers and migrant day laborers result in this population likely being engaged in high-risk sex. Government programs should pay more attention to public education, health promotion and intervention for the control of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]