Rural migrants into the cities of China: From starvation to under-class

During the economic reforms that began in the late 1970s, there emerged about 70 million rural migrants in Chinese cities. Simultaneously, the Chinese social security system has undergone significant changes. However, the fundamental feature of the system - the ‘two worlds’ of the excessively elaborate social security programs in the urban areas and the residual provisions in the rural areas - remains. For rural migrants, the social security umbrella designed for urban residents has barely been extended over their heads, despite their physical existence in the cities. Based on an examination of the social well being of these rural migrants, it is argued that immediate action should be taken to protect migrant workers in the cities by the provision of basic social security programs, such as work-related injury insurance and health-care insurance.