Veteran rural policy official Zhao Shukai recalls discriminatory restrictions, arbitrary detention, and forced labour imposed on rural migrants from the 1990s into the early 2000s.
Interesting perspective. It is as if the rural Chinese workers (with their Hukou system) were treated like the immigrants (legal and illegal) from Mexico and Central America into the US. Policies are ambiguous and ever changing over a couple of decades.
Yuxuan, “an old bill that has never been fully settled” gives the history its economic meaning. An NBS survey estimated that 130.92 million migrant workers were living in urban areas at year-end 2025. In May 2026, the State Council set out an implementation framework to provide basic public services based on usual residence and gradually reduce hukou-linked barriers, explicitly connecting the reform to releasing domestic demand.
The worker moved long before the public-service obligation reliably followed. The policy calls for relevant transfers to take resident population into account and encourages provincial transfers to strengthen support for population-inflow areas. What fiscal rule would make the money follow the worker?
Migrants are the heroes of global development. My own country (Malaysia) relies heavily on migrant labour. Many Malaysians are themselves descendants of migrant labourers. We should have a World Migrant Worker Day to remember the sacrifices of migrant workers.
Interesting perspective. It is as if the rural Chinese workers (with their Hukou system) were treated like the immigrants (legal and illegal) from Mexico and Central America into the US. Policies are ambiguous and ever changing over a couple of decades.
Yuxuan, “an old bill that has never been fully settled” gives the history its economic meaning. An NBS survey estimated that 130.92 million migrant workers were living in urban areas at year-end 2025. In May 2026, the State Council set out an implementation framework to provide basic public services based on usual residence and gradually reduce hukou-linked barriers, explicitly connecting the reform to releasing domestic demand.
The worker moved long before the public-service obligation reliably followed. The policy calls for relevant transfers to take resident population into account and encourages provincial transfers to strengthen support for population-inflow areas. What fiscal rule would make the money follow the worker?
Migrants are the heroes of global development. My own country (Malaysia) relies heavily on migrant labour. Many Malaysians are themselves descendants of migrant labourers. We should have a World Migrant Worker Day to remember the sacrifices of migrant workers.