The Effects of Migration and Remittances on the Economic Development of Sending Communities in China,  joint project with colleagues from the Ministry of Agriculture, funded by the Ford Foundation, July 2002 – Dec. 2003.
KEYWORDS:  Chinese migration; labor migration; migration remittances

The Impact of Migration on the Status of Women and Reproductive Health in Rural China,  joint project with colleagues from the Chinese Population and Information Research Center, Beijing University, Bowdoin College, funded by the Ford Foundation, Dec. 1999-Mar. 2003.
KEYWORDS:  Chinese migration; labor migration; migration remittances                                                                                            

"Patterns of Temporary Migration of Women from Anhui and Sichuan Provinces of China."  The China Review 52, 2004. (with R. Connelly, Z. Zheng, and Z. Xie)
This study, based upon a recent sample of 3,186 rural women from two of the major sending provinces of China, examines the process of their migration.  We find that the common stereotype of Chinese migrant women as young and single no longer adequately describes the situation, and demonstrate that there is a remarkable diversity of migration patterns.   Many women migrate while  married:  nearly two thirds of the women in our sample were married on each of their first through third trips.  The proportion of married women migrants accompanied by their husbands while migrating is about equal to those who migrate without  him.  Nor  does having children deter migration: migrant women are relying upon relatives and husbands to care for their children when they migrate, or are bringing them along.  Migration by women is becoming more prevalent in both province: both a period and a cohort effect are operating, with women in all age cohorts migrating more in recent periods, and younger cohorts migrating more than older cohorts in each period.
KEYWORDS:  Chinese migration; migration of women, women's status, labor migration                                                                            

"Female Migrants to Shangahi: Temporary 'Floaters' or Settlers?" (Figures in PDF) International Migration Review 36:2, 2002.
This paper examines the question of settlement among "temporary" female migrants to Shanghai, based upon data collected in 1993 on 54,372 individuals in the Fifth Sampling Survey of the Floating Population of Shanghai. Most of the women in this population were rural labor migrants, defined as those migrants whose previous occupation was in agriculture and who held an agricultural household registration. The demographic and occupational characteristics of the 9,124 women in this group are described, demonstrating that migration to Shanghai is a highly gendered process, with men and women working in different occupations and sectors.  Moreover, important differences are found to exist between unmarried and married female rural labor migrants that indicate that the latter are probably accompanying and working with their migrant husbands.  A significant proportion of female “social” migrants also exhibit characteristics that indicate that they are the spouses of male rural labor migrants, bringing to over one-third the proportion of rural labor migrants to Shanghai who could be migrating as couples.  These couples and their children may be the vanguard in a transition from temporary labor migration to settlement in China’s large cities.
KEYWORDS:  Chinese migration; migration of women; labor migration                          

"The Determinants of Occupational Choice of Labor Migrants to Shanghai." (Figures in PDF) China Economic Review 12:1, 2001
Based upon data collected in on 54,372 individuals in the Fifth Sampling Survey of the Floating Population of Shanghai, this paper examines the characteristics and occupational choice of 32,967 rural labor migrants, defined as those migrants whose previous occupation was in agriculture and who held an agricultural household registration. These migrants comprised approximately three-fifths of Shanghai's floating p 1993opulation in 1993. The data support the conventional wisdom that labor migrants are most often young males who work in the "hard and dirty" jobs of construction and manual labor -- jobs left vacant by Shanghai's educated and aging registered population. But there also exists significant sorting of rural labor migrants among occupations and sectors (state, collective, joint venture and small-scale private enterprise) by gender, age, marital status, education, and especially region of origin. Thus it appears that these characteristics and village-based networks are important in channeling migrants into particular occupations and destinations, undermining the notion of a "blind" migration from rural areas to coastal cities during China's rapid economic transition.
KEYWORDS:  Chinese migration;  labor migration;  migrant employment; migrant networks         
                                                                

"Rural Migrants in Urban China: Willing Workers, Invisible Residents"  Asia Pacific Business Review8:4  (Special Issue, "Migrant Workers in Pacific Asia"), 2002.
This essay addresses the status of rural migrants in urban China, examining the conditions of their employment, state policy and residents' attitudes, and their integration into the city.

    
"Chinese Labor Migration: Insights from Mexican Undocumented Migration to the United States," in Loraine A. West and Yaohui Zhao (eds.), Rural Labor Flows in China. Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, 2000.


"The Floating Population of Shanghai in the Mid-1990's," with Wei Jinsheng. Asian and Pacific Migration Journal 9:1, Spring, 2000.
The primary purpose of this paper is to accurately describe the floating population of China's largest city, Shanghai, based upon the most comprehensive data set available, a survey of 54,372 migrants conducted in late 1993. From this examination, the reader can gain a clear sense of the relative magnitude and characteristics of the major categories of Shanghai's floating population. Special attention is paid to the rural labor migrants stereotyped by the media, and to describing their characteristics at both origin and destination. It is shown that the media image of the rural labor migrant, like all stereotypes, does contain certain elements of truth. But rather than being homeless, unemployed, and outside the boundaries of the Chinese official society, the great majority are settled in permanent households and work sites, working in occupations left vacant by Shanghai's aging labor force, and registered. Instead, the data suggest that it is those who migrate for social reasons who are more likely to disappear from official view. Data from this survey will also be used to examine the factors that influence migrants' choice of occupation and their duration of stay in Shanghai.


"China's 'Tidal Wave' of Migrant Labor: What Can We Learn from Mexican Undocumented Migration to the United States?" International Migration Review 31:2, Summer, 1997.
The purpose of this paper is to place the massive labor migration from the rural areas to the cities of China within the context of the literature on labor mobility in developing countries, by comparing it to undocumented Mexican migration to the United States. The similarities between these migration flows fall within three general areas: the migration process is spontaneous, circular, and heavily reliant upon networks of fellow villagers; the economic and social position of migrants in their destinations is like that of international labor migrants in other countries, who work in undesirable occupations for low pay and have restricted legal rights; and the agrarian structure of both Mexico and China has given peasants unalienable access to land while at the same time promoting a policy that has consistently favored the cities at the expense of the peasants, thereby creating surplus agricultural labor and perpetuating circular migration. The last section of the paper draws upon these similarities, as well as differences between the two countries, to generate predictions concerning the development of labor migration in China. 
KEYWORDS:  Chinese migration;  Mexican migration;  undocumented migration; labor migration;  migrant networks