The floating population refers to the large and increasing number of migrants without local household registration status and has become a new demographic phenomenon in China. Most of these migrants move from the rural areas of the central and western parts of China to the eastern and coastal metropolitan areas in pursuit of a better life. The floating population of China was composed of 121 million people in 2000, and this number was expected to increase to 300 million by 2010. Quality of life (QOL) studies of the floating population could provide a critical starting point for recognizing the potential of regions, cities and local communities to improve QOL. This study explored the construct of QOL of the floating population in Shanghai, China. We conducted eight focus groups with 58 members of the floating population (24 males and 34 females) and then performed a qualitative thematic analysis of the interviews. The following five QOL domains were identified from the analysis: personal development, jobs and career, family life, social relationships and social security. The results indicated that stigma and discrimination permeate these life domains and influence the framing of life expectations. Proposals were made for reducing stigma and discrimination against the floating population to improve the QOL of this population.

This paper is a comparative analysis, which mainly compares two education development level indicators of Average Years of Education (AYE) and Adult Illiteracy Rate (AIR). In China, AIR is influenced by elder illiteracy seriously. This article, firstly analyzes the problems of using AIR, and secondly introduces the indicator of AYE and compares the two indicators. Finally, points out the conclusion, that it should be using AYR to replace AIR to measure regional education development level. Thus, we could get the values which are more realistic and more reliable.