Circulatory Mobility in Post-Mao China: Temporary Migrants in Kaiping County, Pearl River Delta Region

Abstract

"Since the 1980s, it has been possible for the Chinese peasant household to diversify its economic base by making use of its social networks to place members in a distant community as migrant workers. Through a microstudy of 50 such migrants in Kaiping County in the Pearl River Delta region, this article illustrates the interplay between macro, meso, and micro factors in the causes and processes of circulatory mobility in post-Mao China. It is found that Hong Kong's search for cheap labor, the PRC's household registration system, and Kaiping's strong localism provide the context in which migrants and their households have to adjust. The particular behavior pattern of these migrants also bears the stamp of their rational household decision-making processes as well as their feelings of moral obligation toward their kin in their community of origin."