Migration For and Against Agriculture in Eight Chinese Villages

The unprecedented scale of permanent and temporary migration in China today, with estimates at any one time amounting to close to 120 million persons, is simultaneously a spontaneous response to or consequence of economic reform and increasingly a de facto component of government policy. Given the dimensions of this population movement and its socio–economic and political significance it is not surprising that migration in China has become an important item for research both within and outside China. This research is usually conducted at the macro–level and made up of a number of components, including investigations of the origins, characteristics, motivation and welfare of migrants; the factors motivating migrants outwards; the factors pulling migrants towards their destinations; and the repercussions of migration for host populations, social stability and social order..