Return migrant entrepreneurs and economic diversification in two counties in south Jiangxi, China

An Erratum for this article has been published in Journal of International Development 12(2) 2000, 297. Returnee migrants in the counties of Xinfeng and Yudu, south Jiangxi, are contributing to the diversification of the rural economy in their natal communities. This is occurring with the sponsorship of the state which views returnee entrepreneurship as part of the longer-term project of permanently transferring rural labour from villages to towns, and from fields to off-farm employment. Returnees have assisted the immediate goal of diversifying the rural economy, and they have lobbied the local state for changes which make the natal environment more conducive to business. However, owing to the backwardness of the natal economies and the short history of return to south Jiangxi, these entrepreneurs are not advancing the longer-term project of permanently transferring rural labour out of agriculture and villages. Moreover, although returnee enterprises are promoting economic diversification, their contribution to livelihood diversification has been limited to creating jobs for other returnees, rather than for the local non-migrant population. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.