This paper uses data from two surveys conducted in Fujian Province in 2006 and 2002 to examine the recent situation and changes in the settlement intention of China's floating population and its determinants, and the diversification process of the floating population's migration flow. The results suggest that while the intention of the floating population to settle in the cities has increased, the places of origin remain important final destinations of the floating population, and a significant proportion of the floating population are still in the process of continuing their circulating process and looking for their final destination cities. The paper also suggests that there is a gap between the floating population's intention to settle in the cities and their real action to do so, and that they are cautious in turning such intention into immediate action. The paper identifies a set of complex determinants for the settlement intention of the floating population in the cities, and indicates that female, young, unmarried, better educated, non‐production workers, and Fujian‐origin members of the floating population, are more likely to choose to settle down in the cities. Having non‐agricultural Hukou status, higher household income, longer working contracts, better housing conditions, and a higher administrative status and bigger population size of the destination cities, are factors that promote the settlement intention of the floating population in the cities. The paper concludes that the final destination of the floating population's migration has been increasingly diversified, and it is of great importance to monitor and understand this diversification process. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Compared with other demographic processes, little attention has been given to the way levels and patterns of internal migration vary around the world. This can be traced in part to the absence of any central repository of internal migration data, but it also reflects widespread variation in the ways migration is measured. If robust, reliable comparisons between countries are to be made, a clear understanding of the available data is an essential pre‐requisite. This paper reports results from the Internal Migration Around the GlobE project, which established an inventory of internal migration data collections for the 193 UN member States, identifying, inter alia, the types of data collected, the intervals over which it is measured and the spatial frameworks employed. Results reveal substantial diversity in data collection practice. We assess the strengths, limitations, and utility of the six principle ways migration is measured and examine their capacity to address key questions and issues in the field. We also identify avenues for harmonisation and conclude with recommendations which aim to facilitate cross‐national comparisons. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In most parts of the developing world, the urbanization process has been dominated by rural±urban migration and the growth of existing cities. However, case-studies in China's Fujian Province suggest that this process can also be achieved mainly by in situ transformation in rural areas. Such in situ transformation of rural areas has been driven mainly by two forces, the development of township and village enterprises (TVEs) and the inflow of foreign investment; and facilitated by the relevant policies adopted by the Chinese government since 1978. The former has been very effective in the transformation of rural employment structure, while the latter has brought many physical changes to the previously rural landscape. Being mutually complementary, these two ways of rural transformation have not only benefited and urbanized the rural areas, but kept many farmers in their hometowns, replacing the dominant role of rural±urban migration and the growth of existing cities in the urbanization process.