원문] Seasonal Migration in Modern Shanghai

Abstract

Shanghai port officially opened in November 17, 1843 as the first batch of the opening-up ports of China. It soon developed into an international metropolis and the Economical and Cultural Center of China, also the significant ports of East Asia. One of the important reasons was the large number of immigrants. Without the numerous immigrants, Shanghai would not be Shanghai nowadays. <BR> Along with the rapid development after opening, Shanghai attracted more and more floating population. The population grew more than 20 times in 100 years from above 250,000 in 1840s to 5,460,000 in 1949.1) Due to this, Shanghai formed its famous “Shanghai Culture”, known as being tolerant to diversity and the spirit of innovation. <BR> The opening of Shanghai port has caused so much demographic change. Previous academic research always focused on the floating population who settled down in Shanghai. How about those who choose not to stay in Shanghai? For example, some of them were seasonal migrants. Most of them were peasants from Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces, who worked in Shanghai in the slack season and moved back in the busy season to engage in agriculture. Many of them were from the north of Jiangsu province and being called “Subei People” as a special cultural symbol in Shanghai, which means engaged in low-level works, low income and low quality, and have suffered discrimination until a few years ago. This is a special social and cultural phenomenon formed by immigration in Shanghai and Jiangzhe region. This paper mainly studies this problem.