TY - JOUR
T1 - Floating or settling down
T2 - the effect of rural landholdings on the settlement intention of rural migrants in urban China
AU - HAO, Pu
AU - Tang, Shuangshuang
N1 - This research is funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41401175,41401167), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20141325), and Hong Kong Baptist University (FRGII/13-14/082).
PY - 2015/9/1
Y1 - 2015/9/1
N2 - The industrialization and urban development in China have driven a huge portion of the rural population to its urban areas. While discriminating institutions engendered by the hukou system exclude most rural migrants from urban rights and benefits, the option of converting hukou has become increasingly available. Nevertheless, few rural migrants have chosen to settle down in cities by obtaining an urban hukou, which contradicts a common perception that rural migrants desire an urban hukou. Based on a recent migrant survey in Jiangsu Province, this paper explores rural migrants' intention of hukou conversion with respect to the availability, type, and quantity of rural landholdings in their home countryside, as well as their socioeconomic attributes and migration patterns. The results of regression analyses indicate that both the possession of farmland and housing land in rural areas significantly influences the intention of rural migrants to obtain an urban hukou in their destination cities. Moreover, systematic variances in settlement intention are found between the “born-after-1980” generation and their older counterparts, as well as between migrants from the more and less affluent regions. These findings suggest that the decision of hukou conversion incorporates varied concerns and purposes among rural migrants in Chinese cities, which should be addressed with more responsive rural and urban policies.
AB - The industrialization and urban development in China have driven a huge portion of the rural population to its urban areas. While discriminating institutions engendered by the hukou system exclude most rural migrants from urban rights and benefits, the option of converting hukou has become increasingly available. Nevertheless, few rural migrants have chosen to settle down in cities by obtaining an urban hukou, which contradicts a common perception that rural migrants desire an urban hukou. Based on a recent migrant survey in Jiangsu Province, this paper explores rural migrants' intention of hukou conversion with respect to the availability, type, and quantity of rural landholdings in their home countryside, as well as their socioeconomic attributes and migration patterns. The results of regression analyses indicate that both the possession of farmland and housing land in rural areas significantly influences the intention of rural migrants to obtain an urban hukou in their destination cities. Moreover, systematic variances in settlement intention are found between the “born-after-1980” generation and their older counterparts, as well as between migrants from the more and less affluent regions. These findings suggest that the decision of hukou conversion incorporates varied concerns and purposes among rural migrants in Chinese cities, which should be addressed with more responsive rural and urban policies.
KW - Hukou
KW - Jiangsu
KW - landholdings
KW - rural migrants
KW - settlement intention
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84946437365&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0308518X15597131
DO - 10.1177/0308518X15597131
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:84946437365
SN - 0308-518X
VL - 47
SP - 1979
EP - 1999
JO - Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space
JF - Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space
IS - 9
ER -