Residential Choice among Rural–Urban Migrants after Hukou Reform: Evidence from Suzhou, China

The reform of China's socialist residential registration system (hukou) led to a shift in the residential preferences of rural–urban migrants, whereby the meaning of ‘home’ has also been changing. Data from a 2009 survey conducted in Suzhou City in Jiangsu Province highlight some emerging strat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Population space and place 2017-05, Vol.23 (4), p.n/a
Main Authors: Huang, Xu, Dijst, Martin, Weesep, Jan, Jiao, Yixue, Sun, Ying
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Birth order
China
Economic models
family support
hukou reform
Migrants
new‐generation migrants
Residence
residential choice
Residential preferences
rural–urban migration
Social welfare
Socialism
Welfare reform
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Summary:The reform of China's socialist residential registration system (hukou) led to a shift in the residential preferences of rural–urban migrants, whereby the meaning of ‘home’ has also been changing. Data from a 2009 survey conducted in Suzhou City in Jiangsu Province highlight some emerging strategies for residential choice. Compared with ‘first‐generation’ migrants who grew up under socialism and migrated before the hukou reform, members of the ‘new generation’ born after 1980 attach less value to hukou benefits. Instead, their choice of a future place of residence appears to be related to the institutional reforms that are gradually separating social welfare provisions from the hukou system. As the draw of a local hukou declines, the strategies of a migrant's family to leverage their financial resources are found to play a bigger role in one's aspirations to establish a home in Suzhou. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ISSN:1544-8444
1544-8452
DOI:10.1002/psp.2035