Politics of cityward migration: an overview of China in comparative perspective

This paper focuses on the kind of politics that can be expected to result from Chinese migration from rural to urban areas. It speculates on the emerging trends from China and compares them with politics that have resulted from migration in other countries, especially in Latin America. In countries such as Mexico and Peru, residents in neighborhood communities have been particularly interested in organizing politically to gain good housing, secure tenure and urban services. As this study shows, in China, the priorities are somewhat different as a result of the conditions of migration. Chinese urban migrants rarely build their own houses, either living in employer-provided accommodation or renting rooms from established residents. Although this eliminates one basis for political development and activity, a second, more important force works through what are called here native-place networks, referring to allegiance and continuing ties to places of origin. This takes number of forms, affecting attitudes toward employment conditions but also urban services, such as the provision of schools and health care for migrant families in the destination area. Such ties have become institutionalized in the sense that governments of originating areas see such migration as a continuing source of remittances and therefore do what they can to encourage them. The importance of hometown networks as a source of political activity may change in future, but only if the housing habits change away from the dependence of migrants upon rental housing.