Visualization and analysis on the spatial-temporal patterns of flow direction of interprovincial migration in China based on origin-destination matrix

With the rapid increase of the number of floating population in China, migration plays an increasingly significant role in China's economy during last three decades. Given the background that most of the studies focus on migration in a particular period or oriented regions, there is a critical need to analyze the spatial-temporal patterns of migration in China. With the method of graphics of flow-line-symbol and matrix data with origin-destination of interprovincial migration during the periods of 1990–1995, 1995–2000, 2000–2005 and 2005–2010, the flow direction of floating population on indices of flow ratio, flow coefficient at the provincial level, the origins and temporal changes of major migration destinations were studied in this paper, as to understand the mobility of interprovincial migration over the last two decades in China.