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Migrant workers in China

China’s migrant workers accounted for about 21 per cent of the population last year. Photo: AFP
China jobs

Wary of ‘vicious’ events, China makes migrant worker arrears a priority

Social harmony takes centre stage after high-profile killings, and China’s cabinet says the unpaid salaries of migrant labourers require political action.

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China's population

Chinese cities ease residency requirements as ‘war for people’ heats up

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Children in China

China to build migrant children database to improve welfare and services

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China education

China’s urban-rural gap is a threat to growth. Is the divide too wide to fix?

Researchers report waning optimism about social mobility among rural Chinese as education disparities create obstacles for economy.

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Illustration: Brian Wang
Social media

China’s ‘self-taught philosopher’ finds viral fame brings mixed blessings

Former factory worker Chen Zhi reflects on new life as a ‘brain worker’, his first published translation and facing his online critics.

US immigration

Inside Out | Fear of migrants needlessly inflaming tensions around global elections

International migration is a force for good that developed economies need, despite the protests of xenophobes and populists.

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China's population

Far from farms: China aims to energise economy with new urbanisation action plan

A five-year undertaking could see 70 per cent of all Chinese settled in large cities, with newly granted urban-residency status and benefits, to expand domestic demand and industrial upgrades.

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As of last year, slightly more than 66 per cent of China’s 1.4 billion people lived in urban areas, and leadership wants that percentage to reach 70 per cent in five years. Photo: AFP
China’s third plenum

How China’s ‘breakthrough’ rural land reform could be a cash cow for farmers

Looking to give China’s economy a jolt, Beijing’s third plenum featured long-awaited plans that could make rural resources more valuable and address the rural-urban income gap.

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China property

As localities change their rules, is the end of China’s hukou system in sight?

As China’s local governments test changes to their household registration systems to entice homebuyers, some analysts have suggested this presages a national-level policy change.

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China's population

Chinese counties took 2 billion yuan from school meal funds to repay debt: audit

More than 100 counties involved in wrongdoing, State Council audit report tracking school meal subsidies for rural students finds.

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Providing meals at school in poorer areas have been shown to improve not only nutrition levels but cognitive abilities, academic performance and class enrolment rates as well. China introduced its rural school meal plan in 2011. Photo: Xinhua
Trending in China

Row over China migrant worker living in tiny Shanghai cabinet for US$7 a month

An online “misinformation” controversy has been sparked after a viral video emerged of a migrant worker in China living in a tiny “cabinet” room in Shanghai, a city with some of the country’s most expensive rental properties.

A tiny living space occupied by a migrant worker in China has sparked dismay on mainland social media amid an ongoing official crackdown on internet misinformation. Photo: SCMP composite/Douyin
Transport and logistics

China trade union and Logory Logistics sign truck drivers to collective contract

This marks the domestic freight transport industry’s first attempt to cover truckers’ rights on a nationwide scale.

China economy

China’s sluggish property sector may be shifting migrant worker demographics

Over-50s now make up almost a third of China’s vast migrant workforce, while the number aged under 30 has dropped over the past five years

China's population

Opinion | China’s urbanisation efforts draw to a close for most provinces and cities

The flow of domestic migrants is increasingly moving in the direction of the Greater Bay Area, the Yangtze River Delta and a handful of local economic hubs.

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People cross a street near office towers in the Lujiazui financial district of Shanghai on February 28, 2023. Photo: Reuters
China economy

Opinion | How reforming rural land rights can aid China’s common prosperity push

China finds itself in need of its latest landmark reform as the urban-rural divide keeps growing and the broader economy is seeking new sources of growth. One possible solution is finding better uses for rural land and giving farmers the same legal rights as urban residents to rent, transfer or mortgage their land.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
China society

Opinion | Boy’s death a reminder of China’s neglect of ‘left-behind children’

Detention of three teens over the death of a third – all ‘left-behind children’ – should prompt national reflection on their neglect, first by the parents, then by the state.

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China economy

Fixing the urban-rural gap? China weighs making ‘left-behind property’ tradeable

As China faces numerous questions over its economic viability in the long term, some are advocating for a removal of barriers to rural land trading to jolt growth back to previous heights.

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Two Sessions 2024

Proposed reform would give China’s migrants urban home – and benefits to match

In his address to China’s top legislature, the country’s premier listed urban residency for migrant workers as a priority – a proposal which would grant access to better public services and tap a reservoir of demand in the process.

Migrant workers, long a backbone of the Chinese economy, would get access to urban residency and public services under the proposed reform. Photo: Xinhua
China's population

Emptying villages or job-scarce cities: rural Chinese have tough row to hoe

Chinese researchers have found the country’s rural population is struggling to keep up with their urban peers in terms of lifestyle, hampered by relative underdevelopment in social resources and a lack of job prospects in cities.

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China jobs

‘The wages are not as good’: China’s returning migrant workers battling reality

Migrant workers returning after the Lunar New Year holiday in China have low expectations for a pay rise this year, as the number of jobs is not as high as last year.

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China's economic recovery

Shanghai hires planes, trains and automobiles to bring workers back amid holiday

The weeklong holiday makes it more difficult to maintain production levels as cities and provinces are being hard-pressed to rev up China’s economic engine, driving up competition for labour resources.

China’s weeklong Lunar New Year holiday includes the world’s largest human migration. Photo: AFP
China economy

The View | Why China would be wise to analyse its Lunar New Year travel data

The post-pandemic trend of the young and mobile increasingly moving out of China’s megacities is shaping the direction of the country’s urbanisation and regional development.

Wang Lingli, a new-generation farmer who moved back to her hometown to farm in 2015, checks the condition of rapeseed in Longxing township of Chengdu, Sichuan, on October 10. China’s young people are increasingly leaving the biggest cities in search of affordable housing and a more balanced lifestyle. Photo: Xinhua
China's economic recovery

Why is a Chinese city offering companies huge subsidies for the Lunar New Year?

The southern export city of Dongguan is offering firms hundreds of thousands of yuan to maintain production during the Lunar New Year holiday, typically a time of low economic activity.

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China jobs

China’s migrants return to farm, drastically changing workforce dynamics

For the first time in decades, the share of China’s workforce employed in raw materials industries has gone up – a consequence of a weak job market and a return of rural migrants to their homes.

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China's economic recovery

How expanding China’s urban residency may unleash 2 trillion yuan in spending

Changing the residential status of urban migrants in China could free up incomes for consumption through access to better public services – but it remains an open question whether such a change is feasible.

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Two migrant workers walk near a construction site in Beijing. Expanding urban registration for migrants could be a source of new consumption for an economy in need of heightened activity. Photo: EPA-EFE
China economy

‘Severely punish’: China bosses warned over holding up migrant workers’ wages

Analyst cites ‘social instability’ risks as many of China’s 295.6 million migrant workers feel the effects of a shaky post-pandemic economic recovery.

Migrant workers, who have powered China’s rapid urbanisation, are often denied social security benefits in an unregulated market. Photo: AFP
Migrant workers

Migrant workers who transformed China now struggling to survive

China jobs

Migrant workers who helped power China’s economic miracle face bleak future

China’s first generation of migrant workers helped build the country into an economic powerhouse. But now, as they age out of the workforce, they face a bleak future with meagre benefits – or none at all.

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Migrant workers in China
The latest news, analysis and opinion on Migrant workers in China. In-depth analysis, industry insights and expert opinion.
last updated:
27 August, 2024
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