Hukou Research Articles

The impact of medical service on the return behavior: A city-level study in China.

Due to the constraints of the rural-urban household registration systems, the migrants of China currently receive varying degrees of medical services. The fact that many migrants choose to return to their hometowns due to the inequality in medical care has been a social phenomenon. Using data from the 2017 China Migrant Dynamic Survey (CMDS), this paper explores the effect of medical services on population migration. Probit regression analysis method was utilized to examine the relationship between medical service level (MSL) and medical service improvement (MSI) and return behavior (RB), as well as the interaction effect between MSL and MSI, and the moderating effect of health status (HS) and health education (HE). Multiple heterogeneity tests were performed. Grouping regressions were conducted using rural household registration (RHR), grouping regressions were conducted using new rural cooperative medical system (NRCMS), and multinomial Probit regressions were conducted using migration distance and age factors. The following findings were obtained. First, when MSL is low but MSI is high in the locality of household registration, the return probability of migrants will increase. MSL also has a positive interaction effect with MSI, and they jointly increase the return probability of migrants; Second, HS and HE have a positive moderating effect on the relationships between MSL and RB and between MSI and RB; Third, heterogeneity analysis indicates that the migrants with RHR or the migrants not covered by the NRCMS are more prone to return due to the reason of medical service. In addition, the analysis also shows that middle-aged and older people who return across provinces have the highest tendency to return due to medical services and young people have the lowest propensity to return across and within provinces. The study could help local governments change their public medical care policies and close the gap between medical services in different areas. As a result, it is necessary to understand population migration trends and promote New Urbanization Strategies.

What Influences Family Migration Decision of China’s New Generation Rural-urban Migrants? A Multilevel Logistic Regression Analysis

The massive scale of new-generation rural-urban migrants in China has attracted extensive scholarly attention in recent years. While previous studies on China’s rural migrant workers focus on migrants’ individual settlement intentions, migrant’s family migration decision-making and the intergenerational differences between the old-generation migrants and new-generation migrants are underexplored. Based on the data of 2017 China Migrants Dynamic Survey, this paper adopts a multilevel logistic regression approach to explore family and destination factors influencing family migration decision of China’s new generation rural migrant workers. The empirical results reveal that both the migrants’ family and destination attributes significantly influence their family migration decision. The demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of family have been pivotal factors underlying family migration decision of China’s new generation rural-urban migrants, while 16.9% of the chances is explained by between-destination differences. Self-employed migrants with housing properties in host cities, long migration duration and high-income level are more likely to migrate with their family members. Yet, the possibility of family migration is found to be significantly and negatively correlated with the age, education level, number of children and inter-provincial mobility of the new generation migrant workers. In addition, new generation rural-urban migrants’ family migration is more likely to be found in cities with service-oriented industry structure, better environmental quality, and higher hukou barriers which is possibly related to more job opportunities. These research findings not only complement the existing literature on China’s new generation rural-urban migrants, but also have important policy implications for reforming hukou system and enhancing social integration of rural-to-urban migrant population.

Effects of residential push–pull factors on tenants' intentions to relocate from megacities: Evidence from a Beijing, China survey

In China, tenants' residential relocations always present diverse spatial-temporal tendencies and are highly influenced by disadvantages of origin (push) and attractiveness of destination (pull). This paper aims to construct a relocation intention (RI) model and estimate the effects of residential push–pull factors on tenants' RIs, such as the household registration system (hukou), homeownership status, and residential dissatisfaction. The empirical research relies on a questionnaire-based survey of 2187 tenants conducted in 2019 in Beijing, China. Our findings confirm that non-local hukou status significantly pushes female and unmarried tenants to relocate, and non-local homeownership noticeably pulls male and married tenants' relocation. These two factors also significantly influence the RIs of tenants without higher education. For tenants younger than 35, non-local hukou status shows a strong pushing force, but non-local homeownership does not present notable differences by age. Additionally, residential dissatisfaction significantly pushes tenants' RIs and has a moderating effect on non-local homeownership. Moreover, for tenants who have explicit relocation intentions, non-local hukou status plays a vital role in shortening their intended stay before their actual relocation.

Differences between returns to education in Urban and rural China and its evolution from 1989 to 2019.

The income gap between urban and rural residents has long been a predicament for China. The differences between returns to education in urban and rural China are one of the important factors affecting the income gap. Using a combination of data from CHNS, CHIP, CGSS, CFPS, CHFS, and CSS, the differences in returns to education and its evolution in China from 1989 to 2019 were estimated. Results show that returns to education in urban China have been consistently higher than that in rural China. Returns to education in urban China show a trend of progressive increase, then a rapid rise, before turning into a slow decline and gradually leveling off; returns to education in rural China exhibit a slowly increasing trend before gradually leveling off; the differences between returns to education in urban and rural China show an evolution of first growing larger, then smaller, before gradually leveling off. The spouse's education was considered the instrumental variable of individuals' education. The robustness test was done with an estimation through a two-stage least squares (2SLS) method. Results indicate that the empirical conclusion has good robustness. The evolution of returns to education in China was explained in terms of the marketization of labor forces, the relative supply and demand of labor forces, the reform of the household registration system, and the evolution of the quality of education.

The Impact of Higher Education on Health Literacy: A Comparative Study between Urban and Rural China

Health China 2030 calls for health equity. The strict household registration system, known as Hukou, results in an uneven distribution of social resources between urban and rural China. Higher education can promote social mobility and narrow health inequality. Health literacy is a significant indicator to predict health status. Drawing on national representative data recently collected, this study examines the impact of higher education on health literacy in urban and rural China. Propensity score matching was used to address potential selection bias. Ordinary least squares regressions and Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition techniques were conducted to explore urban-rural disparities in health benefits from higher education. The findings indicate that there are existing gaps in health literacy, higher education attainment, household income, and healthcare coverage between urban and rural China. Higher education attainment can significantly promote health literacy both in urban and rural China, after controlling for a series of demographic, socio-economic, and individual characteristics. Moreover, this study highlights a negative heterogenous treatment effect pattern: those who are less likely to attend college can obtain more health benefits from higher education than those who are more likely to be admitted into college. Public education and health programs, policies, and goals should be further optimized to promote integrated development in urban and rural China.

Does being “left–behind” in childhood lead to criminality in adulthood? Evidence from data on rural-urban migrants and prison inmates in China

Large scale rural-to-urban migration and China’s household registration system have resulted in about 61 million children being left-behind in rural villages when their parents migrate to the cities. This paper uses survey and experimental data from male rural-urban migrants – prison inmates and comparable non-inmates – to examine whether parental absence in childhood as a result of migration is associated with increased criminality in adulthood. Control functions and sibling fixed effects are used to identify causal impacts. Parental absence due to migration is found to increase the propensity of adult males to commit crimes. Being left-behind decreases educational attainment and increases risk-loving behavior, both of which increase criminality.

Educational divergence among urban residents and migrant workers: Evidence from China

While the Harris-Todaro model is a traditional approach used in researching the urban-rural dichotomy, it fails to explain families’ goals to maximize their current utility in terms of intertemporal decision-making conditions. To fill this gap, in this paper, an urban-rural dichotomy model involving labor migration and education is established, in which it is assumed that family utility derives from consumption and children’s educational achievement. The steady-state path derived through the Bellman equation suggests that increasing educational investment and family education intensity leads to a significant urban-rural difference in children’s educational achievement. Compared with the traditional Harris-Todaro model, the transversality condition is loosened in this model, while the unavailability of loans constrains migrant families. Four hypotheses are made and tested using an empirical study. An ordinary least squares regression was used in the analysis, but due to the endogeneity caused by missing variables, the instrumental variable method and two-stage least squares regression were used. The results demonstrate that the household registration system can explain 44.5% of the educational achievement difference, and the initial difference is inflated 4.73 times after nine years of compulsory education. This divergence could increase the differences caused by household registration status, resulting in larger income gaps and intergenerational heredity of identities.

A tale of two cities: digital place-making and elderly Houniao migration in China

ABSTRACT The last four decades have seen a growing trend of Chinese ageing migrants originating from the North move to the South during winter and return during summer, resembling snowbirds. The flexibilization of the household registration system, increasing urbanisation, and infrastructure development have led to a new spatial pattern of mobility and the search for new lifestyles among elderly populations with the support of ICT, the so-called Houniao (‘snowbirds’) migration phenomenon. Building on the results of a qualitative study with 24 elderly Houniao participants in the city of Sanya, China, this study applies the concept of digital place-making to explore elderly’s use of smartphones and social media in daily practices during their seasonal migration to Southern cities in China. Our study distinguished three digital place-making-related themes: (1) making social contacts and establish a sense of community in their new city, (2) rebuilding their identity and place through food by using digital media, (3) connecting to places and feeling active in older age. The findings of this study revealed the importance of improving the design and implementation of inclusive policies concerning the digital lives of elderly people.

Settlement intention of migrants in urban China: The effects of labor-market performance, employment status, and social integration

There is growing scholarly interest in settlement intention of migrants in urban China. But little is known about how settlement intention of migrants is shaped by their labor-market performance, employment status, and social integration. Using the structural equation modelling approach, this paper attempts to reveal the trajectory from migrants' labor-market performance to their decision to stay at destinations. Based on the survey data collected from 8 Chinese cities, we found that migrants' labor-market performance positively influences their settlement intention. The impact tends to be more influential for migrants in wage-employment and self-employment groups. For these two groups, the impact consists of direct effect and indirect effect. Perceived labor-market performance, social relation, sense of belonging, and group identity mediate the relationship between labor-market performance and settlement intention. For migrant entrepreneurs, there is only indirect effect of labor-market performance on settlement intention. The results support that the advantage in economic status could break the institutional barrier in migrants' settlement. But for the low-income-level group, the role of individuals’ economic status in shaping their settlement intention is strengthened by the hukou system. Findings point to the significance of adopting distinguished steps to promote settlement intention of migrants for different employment groups.

The influence of migrant children's identification with the college matriculation policy on their educational expectations.

Based on the theoretical framework of cultural reproduction theory and ecosystem theory, this paper explores the impact of migrant children's identification with the college entrance examination policy on their educational expectations and the associated underlying mechanisms from the micro, meso, and macro levels. In total, 1,770 questionnaires were collected from students, and 436 people were interviewed, including students, their teachers, and their parents. They are all from China. Through multidimensional analysis, the results indicated that both individual academic achievement and family social capital have positive impacts on migrant children's educational expectations and that social class segregation in school and perceived social discrimination have negative impacts on their educational expectations. Migrant children's identification with the policy has a significant positive impact on these children's educational expectations. Their identification with the policy enhances the positive impact of individual academic achievement and family social capital on their educational expectations and partially weakens the negative impact of social class segregation in school and perceived social discrimination on their educational expectations. The analysis suggests that college matriculation policy for migrant children drives a compensation mechanism that involves the “principle of justice”, a cultural mechanism that involves “promoting learning through examinations”, and an institutional mechanism involving “urban-rural integration” to increase educational expectations. This study enriches and develops the expectation theory of migrant children and provides a policy reference for local governments to improve their policies for college entrance examinations for migrant children and to promote household registration system reform.

Trapped in the platform: Migration and precarity in China's platform-based gig economy

Recent studies on precarity among gig workers has turned away from labour process factors to explore the role of the wider social, cultural and institutional environment. Existing western-centred studies in this aspect argue that platforms reproduce racialised and gendered hierarchies to leverage control over vulnerable populations. This study extends this literature by focusing on the migration factor in a non-western context. Using the case of Didi, drawing on ethnographic and interview data, it is argued that migrant drivers’ high tolerance for platform precarity should be understood as an imposed position, for they are actually trapped in the platform by China's state-led, tech-driven economic restructuring project, through a new mode of migrant labour differentiation comprising three factors – changes in the labour market, hegemonic gender norms and the reformed hukou system. It thus enriches our understanding of worker precarity in the gig economy by highlighting the impact of migration and the state.

Human capital agglomeration, institutional barriers, and internal migration in China

AbstractThis paper investigates how human capital agglomeration interplays with institutional factors to affect migration destination choice in China. Over the last decades, China has experienced massive internal migration, substantial human capital investment, and the relaxation of its hukou system, thus providing us with a valuable opportunity to examine the role of human capital externality in migration choice. Based on rich data on province‐to‐province migration flows for different education and hukou groups, we find that migrants in China, especially highly educated and urban‐to‐urban migrants, have a strong preference to move to provinces with a high agglomeration of human capital. Further examination reveals that low‐skilled migrants in China are less likely to benefit from human capital agglomeration because of their lower ability to overcome hukou restrictions. Our findings raise the concern that labor migration under the skill‐biased hukou system would enlarge China's regional disparities in human capital and economic development.

The Intellectual Structure of Research on Rural-to-Urban Migrants: A Bibliometric Analysis.

As noted in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals 2030 agenda, sustainable cities “without leaving anyone behind” should take into consideration migrant groups, which may play only a marginal role but may be at the root of potential social conflicts. This study thereby promotes cross-disciplinary explorations of knowing and understanding the rural-to-urban internal migrants against the background of rapid urbanization. This study conducted a bibliometric analysis based on 2788 English language articles obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection database. As China’s unique Hukou system highlights the divide between rural migrants and urban dwellers, migrant studies have extended to a diverse range of interests. We underlined the most productive sources and authors in this area and identified networks of collaboration among countries and institutions. Furthermore, we found trends in research themes and topics and research clusters through keyword-based analysis techniques. The results provide a rich source of information on the intellectual structure of the chosen domain of rural-to-urban migrants.

Family influences on older adults' problem drinking: A representative nationwide study of China.

AimIt is reported that problem drinking is severe among the elderly. The family environment has been regarded as a significant effecting factor in alcohol consumption of the drinker. With the increasing number of older people, paying more attention to this vulnerable group's drinking status and its' influencing factors is substantial for improving older adults' health and the quality of health services.MethodsThis study used data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy and Longevity Study (CLHLS), which was a representative survey covering 23 provinces in mainland China. Cross-sectional analyses were conducted with 15,142 older individuals (aged ≥65 years). Three self-reported questions about drinking behavior were examined to calculate alcohol consumption and categorize problem drinkers. Three multi-level models were utilized while adjusting for numerous socio-demographic and self-reported health factors to analyze the effect of family factors associated with problem drinking among the elderly.ResultsA total of 1,800 problem drinkers (12%) were identified in the sample. Key factors for the problem drinker were assessed such as Hukou (governmental household registration system), current marital status, years of schooling, primary caregivers, and financial sources of living were associated with problem drinking. The older population who live in rural areas (OR = 1.702, CI = 1.453, 1.994), with advanced years of education (OR = 1.496, CI = 1.284, 1.744), and making life by themselves (OR = 1.330, CI = 1.139, 1.552) were more likely to engage in problem drinking while those participants who are widowed (OR = 0.678, CI = 0.574, 0.801), cared for by children or other relatives (OR = 0.748, CI = 0.642, 0.871), adult care giver (OR = 0.348, CI = 0.209, 0.578) or by no one (OR = 0.539, CI = 0.348, 0.835), provided with financial support from their children (OR = 0.698, CI = 0.605, 0.806), other relatives (OR = 0.442, CI = 0.332, 0.587), or the government/community (OR = 0.771, CI = 0.650, 0.915), with insufficient financial support (OR = 0.728, CI = 0.608, 0.872) were at lower risk of problem drinking.ConclusionsThis study provides a strong correlation of various family factors that were associated with problem drinking among the elderly. The findings underscore the effort to promote healthy behaviors, including the importance of positive family factors and appropriate levels of alcohol consumption.

Do Migrant Parents’ Income or Relationships With Their Left-Behind Children Compensate for Their Physical Absence?

Parental migration from rural to cities in China is causing millions of children to be left behind or to live without parental care, support, and guidance, which violates the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This national phenomenon has consequences for the household registration system, known as the hukou system, which is meant to restrain internal migration. These consequences may result in economic and social imbalances. However, a noticeable number of children have been completely or partially left behind by their parents in villages, and as a result, their relationship with their parents and their academic attainment are weak. In particular, this study examines whether migrant parents can improve the academic performance of their Left-Behind Children (LBC) by strengthening their relationship with their children or by sending adequate remittances to the village household. Astonishingly, the structural equation model (SEM) results indicate that LBCs from both parents migrating households are the more privileged groups, although the study underlines that still, all LBC are disadvantaged compared to non-LBC.

Understanding Intercity Mobility Patterns in Rapidly Urbanizing China, 2015–2019: Evidence from Longitudinal Poisson Gravity Modeling

Whereas much academic effort has been devoted to the physics and geographies of daily intraregion individual movements using new big data on human locations, systematic econometric modeling of the spatiotemporal logic of periodic interregional mobility has received limited attention. Using a multiyear, location-based service data set of daily intercity mobility from the Internet company Tencent, this study systematically examines China’s intercity mobility patterns between 2015 and 2019 for the first time. Following a conceptual framework, a Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood estimation (PPML) gravity approach is applied. It reveals a stable “diamond” pattern of high-value mobility flows among the four vertexes of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou/Shenzhen, and Chengdu, embedding radiation patterns of flows connecting some large cities to their neighbors. The econometric results indicate the influence of gravity factors, short-term trips, long-term mobility tendencies, and transportation facilities. Factors of origin and destination exert the same effects on mobility, implying a circulation character. Results of subsample heterogeneity analysis (urban agglomerations vs. nonurban agglomerations, larger cities vs. smaller cities) and the moderating effects of time, distance, and economy are discussed. Our findings reveal differences between intercity mobility and traditional migration under the hukou system and propose implications for urban governance in the postepidemic era.

Assessing the effects of the new-type urbanization policy on rural settlement evolution using a multi-agent model

Urbanization is an inevitable trend of modernization. In recent years, the Chinese government has proposed a new urbanization policy to accelerate the citizenization of the migrant agricultural population. The proposal of China's new urbanization strategy will inevitably cause the large-scale migration of China's urban and rural population, thus impacting the evolution patterns of China's rural settlements. To investigate the future evolution trends of rural settlement patterns against the background of new-type urbanization, we constructed a rural settlement multi-agent system (RSMAS) that can explicitly simulate the influences of government policies. In the model, we set four types of agents, including urban area, rural area, government, and peasant household. Through top-down control and bottom-up response, the model can reveal the mutual gaming relationships, influencing relationships, and feedback relationships among agents against the background of new-type urbanization. Taking Jizhou District of Tianjin, which is one of the first pilot areas of new-type urbanization, as an example, we first simulated the changes of rural settlement patterns in Jizhou District from 2005 to 2015 using the RSMAS. The accuracy of the model simulation was 60.96%, indicating that the model has good reliability. Second, we predicted the impact of the new-type urbanization policy on the rural settlement patterns in Jizhou District in 2030, using 2015 as the starting year. The household registration system is no longer the key constraint to urbanization. The trend of the expansion of rural settlements has been effectively curbed after the implementation of new urbanization. In addition, government-led urbanization processes would increase the local financial burden. Therefore, we suggest that the government should effectively control these processes, activate the rural financial market, and promote the participation of local state-owned enterprises in financing.

Çin Halk Cumhuriyeti’nde Devamlılık Gösteren Bir Unsur Olarak Emek Sömürüsü

The study deals with the historical course of labor in the People's Republic of China. In this sense, it is aimed to address the problems and changes experienced by the working classes in the People's Republic of China, starting from 1949 until today. The main argument of the study is that between the 1949-1978 periods, which is expressed as the planned economy period, and the open economy period after 1978, the exposure of labor to exploitation continued. Although it is accepted that there are differences in the forms and levels of exploitation specific to the mentioned periods, it is aimed to state that the exploitation is permanent. The fact that China, which still defines itself as a socialist country and represents the working class, in practice has a system based on cheap labor and labor exploitation creates a serious contradiction. To support its main argument, the study will include work units called danwei, the concept of the iron rice bowl, the policy of the great leap forward, the hukou system (household registration system) and the impact of these issues on the workforce. It will also include the All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) and workers' actions.

Spatiotemporal Heterogeneity of Urban Land Expansion and Urban Population Growth under New Urbanization: A Case Study of Chongqing.

Land urbanization (LU) and population urbanization (PU) maintain the nature of spatiotemporal heterogeneity in China. As a municipality directly administered by the central government in the mode of “large cities and large rural areas”, Chongqing’s urbanization process is the epitome of China’s urbanization process. This paper examines the spatiotemporal variability of LU and PU in Chongqing on the basis of nighttime light data, the elasticity coefficient of the coupling relationship, and GWR. The results show that (1) the urban land and urban population in Chongqing grew notably from 2008 to 2018, with average annual growth rates of 9.4% and 2.3%, respectively. (2) The coupling coordination coefficient of LU and PU in Chongqing was 0.24, and the total number of districts and counties with uncoordinated development increased, but the overall uncoordinated situation gradually improved over the period. (3) The influence of PU on LU in each district and county increased year by year, and it showed a decreasing trend from southwest to northeast in Chongqing, which indicates that LU was increasingly adapted to the construction needs of PU. The gap between LU and PU widened due to the household registration system, land fiscal policies and other policies. After the reform of the household registration system and the adjustment of new pilot policies targeting the construction of new-type urbanization, the coupling relationship between LU and PU was gradually improving to the coordinated mode. The findings indicate that Chinese urban areas should adhere to the principle of new-type urbanization construction and carry out scientific land planning strategies, strictly controlling land expansion to promote the reasonable development of population growth.

Hukou-Based Rural–Urban Migration Status and Domestic Violence Against Wives in China: Implications for Policy and Practice

Migration in China has been shaped by the household registration system (hukou) that determines stratified citizenship among migrants. Adopting a feminist intersectionality lens, this study investigated how hukou institution, class, and regionality intersect to have an impact on migrant women's experience of physical, psychological, and sexual violence perpetrated by their husbands. The analysis of nationally representative data from the third wave of Women's Social Status Survey in China ( n = 5411) revealed that compared to rural non-migratory wives, (a) return migrants were more likely to experience all three forms of violence; (b) temporary migrants had higher odds to suffer from psychological violence; and (c) permanent migration was not a significant predictor of any form of domestic violence (DV). The findings indicate that migration should be examined in all its complexity from an intersectionality perspective and a within-gender heterogeneity framework may be necessary if we aim to address the multiplicity in migrant women's lives. In practice, attempt to alleviate the negative impact of migration on DV requires reforms or the abolition of the hukou system, and programs and services should be provided in particular to return women migrants who face triple oppression of institutional discrimination, socioeconomic stratification, and regionality marginalization.