Migration and Split Households: A Comparison of Sole, Couple, and Family Migrants in Beijing, China

Abstract

The practice of split households among rural-urban migrants in China has persisted for more than twenty years. In this paper we compare three forms of split households, differentiated by whether the migrant's spouse and children are left behind or have joined the migrant: sole migration, couple migration, and family migration. Our survey of fifty chengzhongcun (urban villages) in Beijing conducted in 2008 shows that couple migration and family migration are outcomes of rural Chinese actively rearranging their household division of labor in order to maximize earnings from urban work opportunities. Migrants' decision to leave the children behind or to bring them along depends on the children's age and whether migrants' parents are available to help. Contrary to expectation, more household members in the city signals neither stronger intention to stay nor greater trust in the host society. These findings highlight the importance of thinking about migrants as circulators and thinking about migration, including family migration, as not necessarily a prelude to permanent settlement. They also underscore the need to address the experiences of long-term split households, a discourse that has received much less attention than one that assumes that a family lives together most of the time. Migration, settlement, and split householdsMigration is increasingly seen as not just a one-way move from the origin to the destination but as an activity that engages both origin and destination societies. Studies on international and transnational migration in particular have highlighted the multiple identities and ties that are stretched across nations and facilitated by

The effect of health on urban-settlement intention of rural-urban migrants in China

“…Besides, many previous studies on the urban-settlement intentions of rural-urban migrants are based only on city-level or provincial-level survey data (e.g. Fan, 2011;Gao et al, 2012;Zhu, 2007;Zhu and Chen, 2010). In this paper, we extended the analysis to a larger number of cities across several provinces which cover the eastern, central, and western area of China.…”

“…When it comes to institutional factors, the hukou system was once viewed as the fundamental barrier to the urban settlement of rural-urban migrants. This system excludes rural-urban migrants, the most vulnerable group in urban society, from the urban social service system, restricts their employment opportunities in the labor market, and results in identity discrimination against them (Fan, 2011;Nielsen and Smyth, 2008;Solinger, 1999). Thus, Fan (2011) highlights the need to reform the hukou system to create a fair labor market and better social future for rural-urban migrants to make it possible for them to permanently settle down in cities.…”

“…Cao et al, 2014;Connelly et al, 2011;Fan, 2011;Gu and Ma, 2013;Hao and Tang, 2015;Liu and Wang, 2014;Tan et al, 2015;Tang and Feng, 2015;Zhu and Chen, 2010). When it comes to institutional factors, the hukou system was once viewed as the fundamental barrier to the urban settlement of rural-urban migrants.…”

“…By 2006, this figure had increased to 35.8% (Zhu and Chen, 2010). Using survey data in Beijing in , Fan (2011 discovered that approximately 30-40% of rural-urban migrants in Beijing expressed an intention to settle down permanently. More recent studies indicate that around 50% of rural-urban migrants were willing to settle down in cities as opposed to returning to rural areas (Cao et al, 2014;Gu and Ma, 2013;Liu and Wang, 2014;Tan et al, 2015;Tang and Feng, 2015).…”

“…Recently, a large set of studies have been dedicated to exploring which factors influence the intention for ruralurban migrants in China to permanently settle down in cities (e.g. Cao et al, 2014;Connelly et al, 2011;Fan, 2011;Hao and Tang, 2015;Liu and Wang, 2014;Tan et al, 2015;Tang and Feng, 2015;Zhu, 2007;Zhu and Chen, 2010). Rural-urban migrants in China are those who work in urban areas, but their household registration (hukou) is registered in the countryside.…”