Abstract
Rural migrant children in urban China face multiple barriers in the public education system, and these challenges lead many of them to return to their rural origin communities. Despite the frequency of this phenomenon, however, to date there is limited documentation of child return migration in China. This article presents new evidence on the patterns of child return migration using multistate life tables and nationally representative data. At each age, about 40% of migrant children return to rural areas within the next two years. Rural children spend more years as returned migrants than as left-behind children without migration experience before reaching the age of 18. Notably, the probability of return migration is significantly higher for children from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds when they are about to enter middle school. Once returned, returned migrant children are likely to re-migrate during the middle school years. These findings highlight the prevalence of return migration among rural-urban migrant children and its potential to exacerbate socioeconomic inequalities among them. Moreover, previous research on education quality in urban China has often overestimated the progress of efforts to promote equal opportunities for rural migrant children due to the lack of attention paid to return migration. Though much attention is appropriately given to the incorporation of migrant children into urban settings, return migration is nonetheless common, and the reincorporation of urban migrants back into rural societies and rural school systems thus warrants both policy and research attention.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
In fact, all transitional probabilities (i.e., between state 1 and 2, from states 1 and 2 to 3, and between states 3 and 4) are calculated simultaneously as part of the matrix calculation involved in constructing the life tables, but only the life table quantities relevant to the current research are shown.
References
Cassarino, J. P. (2004). Theorizing return migration: A revisited conceptual approach to return migrants. International Journal on Multicultural Societies, 6(2), 253–279.
Chen, C., & Fan, C. C. (2018). Rural-urban circularity in China: Analysis of longitudinal surveys in Anhui, 1980–2009. Geoforum, 93, 97–104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2018.05.013.
Chen, Y., & Feng, S. (2013). Access to public schools and the education of migrant children in China. China Economic Review, 26, 75–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chieco.2013.04.007.
Chen, Y., & Feng, S. (2017). Quality of migrant schools in China: Evidence from a longitudinal study in Shanghai. Journal of Population Economics, 30(3), 1007–1034. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-016-0629-5.
Chen, J., & Pastore, F. (2022). Dynamics of returns to vocational education in China: 2010–2017. GLO Discussion Paper, 858.
Chen, Y., Feng, S., & Han, Y. (2020). The effect of primary school type on the high school opportunities of migrant children in China. Journal of Comparative Economics, 48(2), 325–338. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jce.2019.10.006.
China Labour Bulletin (2022). Migrant workers and their children. China Labour Bulletin. https://clb.org.hk/en/node/15437.
Constant, A. (2021). Time-Space Dynamics of Return and Circular Migration. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_107-1.
Coutin, S. B. (2015). Deportation studies: Origins, themes and directions. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 41(4), 671–681. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2014.957175.
Dello-Iacovo, B. (2009). Curriculum reform and ‘Quality Education’ in China: An overview. International Journal of Educational Development, 29(3), 241–249. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2008.02.008.
Deng, Z., & Law, Y. W. (2020). Rural-to-urban migration, discrimination experience, and health in China: Evidence from propensity score analysis. PLOS ONE, 15(12), e0244441. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244441.
Fan, C. C. (2009). Flexible work, flexible household: Labor migration and rural families in China. In L. Keister (Ed.), Work and Organizationsin China Afterthirty Years of Transition (Vol. 19, pp. 377–408). Emerald Group Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0277-2833(2009)0000019016.
Gibney, M. J. (2008). Asylum and the expansion of deportation in the United Kingdom. Government and Opposition, 43(2), 146–167. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-7053.2007.00249.x.
Gibney, M. J. (2013). Is deportation a form of forced Migration? Refugee Survey Quarterly, 32(2), 116–129.
Gmelch, G. (1980). Return Migration. Annual Review of Anthropology, 9(1), 135–159. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.an.09.100180.001031.
Goodburn, C. (2009). Learning from migrant education: A case study of the schooling of rural migrant children in Beijing. International Journal of Educational Development, 29(5), 495–504. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2009.04.005.
Gu, X., & Yeung, W. J. J. (2020). Hopes and hurdles: Rural migrant children’s education in Urban China. Chinese Sociological Review, 52(2), 199–237. https://doi.org/10.1080/21620555.2019.1680970.
Han, J. (2004). Survey Report on the state of compulsory education among migrant children in Beijing. Chinese Education & Society, 37(5), 29–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/10611932.2004.11031663.
Hansen, M. H., & Woronov, T. E. (2013). Demanding and resisting vocational education: A comparative study of schools in rural and urban China. Comparative Education, 49(2), 242–259.
Hugo, G. J. (1982). Circular Migration in Indonesia. Population and Development Review, 8(1), 59. https://doi.org/10.2307/1972690.
Jordan, L. P., Ren, Q., & Falkingham, J. (2014). Youth Education and Learning in Twenty-First Century China. Chinese Sociological Review, 47(1), 57–83.
Koo, A., Ming, H., & Tsang, B. (2014). The doubly disadvantaged: How return migrant students fail to Access and deploy capitals for academic success in rural schools. Sociology, 48(4), 795–811. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038513512729.
Kwong, J. (2004). Educating migrant children: Negotiations between the state and civil society. The China Quarterly.
Lan, P. (2014). Segmented incorporation: The second generation of rural migrants in Shanghai. The China Quarterly, 217, 243–265. https://doi.org/10.1017/S030574101300146X.
Li, N., & Placier, P. (2015). Migrant and non-migrant families in Chengdu, China: Segregated lives, segregated schools. Social Sciences, 4(2), 339–360. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci4020339.
Li, H., Loyalka, P., Rozelle, S., Wu, B., & Xie, J. (2015). Unequal Access to College in China: How far have poor, rural students been left behind? The China Quarterly, 221, 185–207. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305741015000314.
Liang, Z., & Chen, Y. P. (2007). The educational consequences of migration for children in China. Social Science Research, 36(1), 28–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2005.09.003.
Liang, Z., Yue, Z., Li, Y., Li, Q., & Zhou, A. (2020). Choices or constraints: Education of migrant children in Urban China. Population Research and Policy Review, 39(4), 671–690. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-019-09564-9.
Ling, M. (2015). Bad students go to Vocational Schools! Education, Social Reproduction and migrant youth in Urban China. The China Journal, 73, 108–131. https://doi.org/10.1086/679271.
Ling, M. (2017). Returning to no home: Educational Remigration and Displacement in Rural China. Anthropological Quarterly, 90(3), 715–742. https://doi.org/10.1353/anq.2017.0041.
Liu, J., & Jacob, W. J. (2013). From access to quality: Migrant children’s education in urban China. Educational Research for Policy and Practice, 12(3), 177–191. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10671-012-9136-y.
Liu, Z., & Zhu, F. (2011). China’s Returned migrant children: Experiences of separation and adaptation. The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, 12(5), 445–461. https://doi.org/10.1080/14442213.2011.611164.
Lu, Y., & Zhou, H. (2013). Academic achievement and loneliness of migrant children in China: School Segregation and Segmented Assimilation. Comparative Education Review, 57(1), 85–116. https://doi.org/10.1086/667790.
Ma, Z. (2002). Social-Capital mobilization and income returns to Entrepreneurship: The case of Return Migration in Rural China. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 34(10), 1763–1784. https://doi.org/10.1068/a34193.
Ma, G. (2020). Migrant status, school segregation, and students’ academic achievement in urban China. Chinese Sociological Review, 52(3), 319–336. https://doi.org/10.1080/21620555.2019.1680280.
Meng, X., & Yamauchi, C. (2017). Children of migrants: The Cumulative Impact of Parental Migration on Children’s Education and Health Outcomes in China. Demography, 54(5), 1677–1714. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-017-0613-z.
Monti, A., & Serrano, I. (2022). Economic reintegration postreturn—examining the role of return voluntariness, resource mobilization and time to prepare. Population Space and Place, 28(7), e2577. https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.2577.
Muniz, J. O. (2020). Multistate life tables using Stata. https://doi.org/10.1177/1536867X20953577.
Palloni, A. (2001). Increment-decrement life tables. Demography: Measuring and modeling Population processes. Blackwell.
Qian, H., & Walker, A. (2015). The education of migrant children in Shanghai: The battle for equity. International Journal of Educational Development, 44, 74–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2015.07.009.
Ren, Q., & Treiman, D. J. (2016). The consequences of parental labor migration in China for children’s emotional wellbeing. Social Science Research, 58, 46–67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2016.03.003.
Schmidt-Kallert, E. (2009). A New Paradigm of Urban Transition: Tracing the livelihood strategies of multi-locational households. Die Erde; Zeitschrift Der Gesellschaft Für Erdkunde Zu Berlin, 140, 319–336.
Schoen, R. (1975). Constructing increment-decrement life tables. Demography, 12(2), 313–324. https://doi.org/10.2307/2060768.
Stark, O. (1996). On the Microeconomics of Return Migration. In V. N. Balasubramanyam & D. Greenaway (Eds.), Trade and Development: Essays in Honour of Jagdish Bhagwati (pp. 32–41). Palgrave Macmillan UK. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-25040-0_3.
State Council (2006). Regulation on Solving the Problems of Migrant Workers (guanyu jiejue nongmingong wenti de ruogan yijian). State Council. https://www.gov.cn/zhuanti/2015-06/13/content_2878968.htm.
Tian, X. (2017). Immediate Context, Life experiences, and perception: How do rural migrants in Urban China perceive an unfair policy? Chinese Sociological Review, 49(2), 138–161. https://doi.org/10.1080/21620555.2016.1214820.
Wang, L., & Holland, T. (2011). In search of educational equity for the migrant children of Shanghai. Comparative Education, 47(4), 471–487.
Wang, D., & Teng, Y. (2022). Educational Migration and Rural decline in China. The China Journal, 88, 100–125. https://doi.org/10.1086/719473.
Wang, F., Lu, J., Lin, L., Cai, J., Xu, J., & Zhou, X. (2021). Impact of parental divorce versus separation due to migration on mental health and self-injury of Chinese children: A cross sectional survey. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 15(1), 71. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13034-021-00424-z.
Wu, X., & Zhang, Z. (2015). Population migration and children’s school enrollments in China, 1990–2005. Social Science Research, 53, 177–190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2015.05.007.
Wu, F., Zhang, D., & Zhang, J. (2008). Unequal education, poverty and low growth—A theoretical framework for rural education of China. Economics of Education Review, 27(3), 308–318. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2006.09.008.
Wu, Q., Lu, D., & Kang, M. (2015). Social capital and the mental health of children in rural China with different experiences of parental migration. Social Science & Medicine, 132, 270–277. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.10.050.
Xu, D., & Wu, X. (2016). Separate and Unequal: Hukou, School Segregation, and Migrant Children’s Education in Urban China. 32.
Xu, H., & Xie, Y. (2015). The Causal effects of Rural-to-Urban Migration on children’s Well-being in China. European Sociological Review, 31(4), 502–519. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcv009.
Xu, D., Wu, X., Zhang, Z., & Dronkers, J. (2018). Not a zero-sum game: Migration and child well-being in contemporary China. Demographic Research, 38, 691–726. https://doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.2018.38.26.
Yiu, L. (2020). Educational Injustice in a high-stakes testing context: A mixed methods study on rural migrant children’s academic experiences in Shanghai Public schools. Comparative Education Review, 64(3), 498–524. https://doi.org/10.1086/709429.
Yu, M., & Crowley, C. B. (2020). The discursive politics of Education Policy in China: Educating migrant children. The China Quarterly, 241, 87–111. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305741019000742.
Zhang, H. (2017). Opportunity or new poverty trap: Rural-urban education disparity and internal migration in China. China Economic Review, 44, 112–124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chieco.2017.03.011.
Zhang, D., & Luo, Y. (2016). Social Exclusion and the hidden curriculum: The schooling experiences of Chinese Rural Migrant Children in an Urban Public School. British Journal of Educational Studies, 64(2), 215–234. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2015.1105359.
Zhang, J., Huang, J., Wang, J., & Guo, L. (2020). Return migration and Hukou registration constraints in Chinese cities. China Economic Review, 63, 101498. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chieco.2020.101498.
Zhao, C., Wang, F., Li, L., Zhou, X., & Hesketh, T. (2017). Long-term impacts of parental migration on Chinese children’s psychosocial well-being: Mitigating and exacerbating factors. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 52(6), 669–677. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-017-1386-9.
Zhou, M., Murphy, R., & Tao, R. (2014). Effects of Parents’ Migration on the education of children left behind in Rural China. Population and Development Review, 40(2), 273–292. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2014.00673.x.
Zhu, X., Liu, J., & Liang, Z. (2020). Are left-behind children more likely to be bullied? Empirical evidence from rural schools in Shaanxi Province. Chinese Sociological Review, 52(4), 411–437. https://doi.org/10.1080/21620555.2020.1776603.
Acknowledgements
The author thanks Jenna Nobles, Christine Schwartz, Theodore Gerber, Eric Grodsky, Ian Coxhead, Alberto Palloni for their help in developing the paper and two anonymous reviewers for their comments that improved the paper.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing Interests
The author has no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Electronic Supplementary Material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Huangfu, Y. Return Migration of Rural-Urban Migrant Children in China. Popul Res Policy Rev 43, 41 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-024-09885-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-024-09885-4