Source: Li Min/China Daily
Dung beetles are known for their appalling work of rolling feces left behind by other animals to survive in their unbeknownst world. China’s migrant workers share a similar fate in that, instead of feces, undesirable and oftentimes dangerous employment opportunities are left behind by privileged city folks for the migrant workers to scramble for and to appreciate as a way of survivability in an increasingly capitalistic society. These migrant workers, however, are not entirely at fault for the system that has exacerbated their pre-existing economic and social inequalities to that of privileged city people, but rather they are the victims the system was designed to capitalize. This system encompasses both the policies enacted on migrant workers and the beliefs that motivated the workers to migrate in the first place. Consequently, the oppressed city lifestyles of migrant workers stem from the capitalizing of the migrant workers’ incentives and the deeply-rooted derogatory perception toward migrant workers that is shared among most city residents
With the advent of industrialization in China, the desire to live in the city spread like wildfire because job opportunities in the city pay more than that of the average agricultural job and thus incentivized rural workers to migrate to the cities for greater prosperity. However, this reasoning creates not only an overwhelming demand for urban jobs but also stigmatizes the migrant workers to be like mice fighting for cheese from afar. In other words, well-established city folks may view the crowds of migrant workers as the rodents of society: beneath them in every way and trapped in their cage of elusive hopes. This judgement may not apply to all city folks, but the subconscious seeding of this thought has already taken root in the minds of most city folks, as indicated by the blatant job limitations and policy discriminations put in place against migrant workers. Even in the face of social and economic oppression, most migrant workers continue to work from run-down factories and poorly-maintained workspaces, whether that is because their poor financial situation precludes them from quitting their jobs or perhaps the tie between their job to the funding of their children’s education is non-negotiable. For instance, in the show adaptation of Spring Grass, Spring Grass stretches herself to the point of collapsing while working through her daily three jobs and reflects on the experience with no regret because she adamantly believes in funding her children’s education at all costs. This unwavering pursuit of work in the city defines the mindsets of countless migrant workers and highlights the desire migrant parents have for their children’s future success. At its core, migrant workers are motivated to venture into the city because city work offers better purchasing power for the migrant workers, especially if the purchase relates to the workers’ children’s well-being, than what an agricultural lifestyle could offer. Hence, modern-day incentives for migrating to the city in search of viable work rely on the financial implications of city jobs as they relate to the livelihood of the worker’s family.
Although the economic incentive for the betterment of the family keeps migrant workers motivated in the city, the costs associated with their work pose a rather inevitable and daunting reality for those involved. For instance, in the documentary Last Train Home, Zhang Changhua and Chen Suqin reasoned their “abandonment” of their two infant children by first discussing the more livable income generated from their textile work in the city and then relating the earned income to their children’s educational prospects. This belief that success in education is the only ticket out of peasant life holds great prevalence in rural parts of China probably as a result of not only the generational emphasis on education but also the educational requirements for top-paying jobs. Unfortunately, rural children typically fail to graduate high school and thus often return to fulfilling their rural lifestyles, as illustrated by the daughter Qin who dropped out of high school out of difficulties managing her school and home lives. In addition, Qin’s resentment toward her parents for “abandoning” her for work in the city contributed to her decision to drop out of high school and pursue city work. The vicious cycle of increased migrant workers thus originates from not only the aforementioned economic rationales but also the fallacy behind the belief that education is the absolute path toward financial and social freedom. Factors such as subpar parental relationships and inherent struggles for rural households unfortunately have trapped generations of rural families like that of Qin’s in a unforgiving cycle of constant migrant worker status. Yet, despite the prevalence of such unfortunate phenomena for rural families, the amount of new migrant workers continues to grow and therefore necessitates policy-makings in this regard.
Household registration (hukou) system leads the way in creating both the initial barrier for migrant workers and the stratification between social classes thereafter. Established in the late 1950s, this policy essentially established a firm divide between city and rural residencies through the registration of each household’s status as either in the city or the countryside [1]. Negative implications, mostly against rural residents, originated from the hukou system, but the original intentions may have merely been to control the influx of migrant workers. With the surge in job opportunities in the city, impoverished rural residents flooded China’s cities for work. However, the increased supply of migrant workers was not met with the same level of city resources such as housing and food supply. This foreseeable reality spelled disaster for all who live in the city because desperation among city inhabitants for said resources could lead to criminal activities and thus the overall decline of city life into chaos. From this perspective, it seems plausible that the Chinese government was merely enforcing its duty of safekeeping the city residents from internal destruction by establishing the hukou system. However, even if the intentions were reasonable, the aftermath unfortunately casts doubts on the wholeheartedness of the policy-making and raises concerns about the far-reaching consequences thereof.
The unfortunate implications of the hukou system fall mostly in the expense of migrant workers and their unequal livelihoods. In the hukou system, rural residents were alienated first through both the more favorable placement of importance and care to urban residents’ hukou and restriction of rural residents from receiving city hukou. This division between the existing urban residents and potential rural migrant workers intensified the social hierarchy in which wealthier urban residents look down upon the poor workers by not only allowing there to be a physical policy like the hukou system separating their lives but also adding additional complications only onto the migrant workers. As a result, the aforementioned economic and family obligations of migrant workers were hindered. Employers would pay less to their migrant workers. Benefits such as social security and reduced cost of education for children in the city became non-existent for migrant workers [2]. This example of migration limitation policy underscores the biased outlook the Chinese government has about its rural inhabitants because, by implementing hukou, the Chinese government essentially indicated that its priority is the advancement of cities and not the livelihoods of rural residents. To make matters worse, the original push, before the Chinese government had to reel back its policy-making, for more migrant workers in the city to help “turn the wheels” of China’s rapid industrialization demonstrated the pawn-like nature of migrant workers in the eyes of the Chinese government.
As pawns to this unfair social hierarchy and economic structure, migrant workers face immense barriers to success that could take the form of monetary deficiency in the beginning. For instance, in the novel Spring Grass, Spring Grass and Rivers Ho entered the city of Shaanxi hoping to earn a profit through the selling of their silk duvets but experienced a rude awakening that registration fee is necessary to even be legally allowed to sell in the city. The shock that transpired highlights both the lack of proper infrastructure for guiding migrant workers into city life and the potential for a vicious cycle of criminalization of migrant workers to take place as a result of such meticulous and money-driven city policies. The attitude toward migrant workers is thus again antagonistic. Given the poor educational traits and impoverished nature of rural migrant workers, perhaps the deficiency in the fundamental rights of the migrant workers is the root hindrance of substantial progress for most migrant workers with respect to their position in the city’s social ladder.
Even with the partial dismantling of the hukou system, the issues that arose from this policy continue to not only exacerbate the dire incentives of migrant workers but also illustrate the capitalization of migrant workers as a result of unfair economic and social treatments. This limited progression for migrant workers suggests that perhaps their struggles require a more systematic approach on both the economic and social ends to effectively mitigate the repercussions of increased migrant workers. Instead of enabling the same tedious low-end city jobs for migrant workers, the Chinese government could allocate funding to establishing affordable vocational schools tailored to increasing China’s economic productivity and prioritizing migrant worker’s enrollment. With a more educated workforce, China would benefit from a more stable economic future that is resistant to job displacements caused by rapid technological innovations. The promised financial stability from city work could reach fruition for more migrant workers since most tailored job opportunities would not be deprived of meaningful financial compensations. In addition, the rotten social perception of migrant workers could decrease with more blending between the opportunities given to the city and rural children because, at its core, the perception stems greatly from the belief that the uneducated migrant workers are restricted to lower-end jobs which would resolve itself with a more collectively educated future generation. As improvements to current policies continue thereafter, the gap between the livelihoods of city and rural residents would abridge itself and offer a more hopeful outlook for the migrant workers.
Work Cited:
[1] Jiang, Wenran. “Prosperity at the Expense of Equality: Migrant Workers Are Falling Behind in Urban China’s Rise.” Confronting Discrimination and Inequality in China: Chinese and Canadian Perspectives, edited by Erroi P. Mendes and Sakunthala Srighanthan, Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 2009, pp. 16-29. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1ckpdk1.7
[2] Gaetano, Arianne M. Out to Work: Migration, Gender, and the Changing Lives of Rural Women in Contemporary China. University of Hawai’i Press, 2015. Chapter 1 “Rural Women and Migration under Market Socialism” (pp. 14-27) .