Living Status and Strategies in Current China: Studies of Casual and Migrant Workers

Since the 1980s, in the wake of the transformation of and developments in China’s social economy and the adjustments in the structure of agriculture, increasingly large numbers of peasants have begun to flock to the cities. Thus, migrant workers in the cities have become one of the most conspicuous groups in contemporary Chinese society. Existing studies show that migrant workers are not one homogeneous unit. There are stratifications and differences among groups of migrant workers, and an important and unique subgroup among them are the informally hired migrant workers. How can we better resolve problems caused by the formation and development of these informally hired migrant workers? And how should we enable them to integrate better and more rapidly into society and obtain the respect and acknowledgement they deserve? These are urgent, difficult, and long-term issues that call for common efforts on the part of all people in society, including scholars—efforts that must find reflection in practice. Of the seven articles in this issue, five focus on exploring the characteristics and existence of different types of urban migrant casual workers. Zhou Jianxin and Zhou Daming have collaborated on investigations and studies regarding nannies, haulage workers, and construction workers among the migrant casual workers in the Pearl River Delta. By means of oral interviews with nannies in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, they analyze their group characteristics, focus on the salient “gender aggregation effect” present among them and the fact that they are a purely female group of workers, and point out that this has made them vulnerable and weak. In their research on individual cases of haulage workers, the authors find that these