Sociologist & child of migrant workers shares stories of young migrant workers through marriage and parenthood—and finds where everyday lives collide with urban rules.
I wonder if migrant workers in Singapore, Malaysia face similar pressures. I doubt they can bring their families with them, and so have to leave their children behind in their countries of origin.
This is a poignant read. The sacrifice that migrant workers endure in China is humbling. The fight for a dignified life the world over is the same. I have so much to learn.
This is an excellent report which jives with my observations from 20 years earlier. It reminds me of the USA in the 1960s/70s, where skin colour stands in for place of birth. As China modernizes if it is not addressed this will give rise to some of the same ills that the USA has been living through from the 1990s to present.
There are interesting differences, no doubt due to the ease of using skin colour rather than place of birth as a control mechanism, so it was relatively easy to put black families in ghettos close to the urban elites that they serviced and suburban wastelands/apartheid Bantustan towns close to service rural landlord/farmers, all so they had to face the same lack of jobs, poor quality/cheap schooling and health/medical treatment that kept wages and benefits down. Not dissimilar to that forcing mostly female workers to depart back to their village, particularly if grandparent free labour isn't available. It also creates the absent male/father figure even more effectively than the welfare state rules of Carter/Reagan/Clinton were at driving black males out of the family and into the role of sperm donor. One can only hope there are factors in China and Chinese culture to mitigate this disruption of the traditional family or a huge lost generation awaits to greet the aging, shrinking population.
I do not have the necessary frame of reference to understand the reasons. Obviously, I get that provincial schools do not produce the same level of success, but why? Is the Gulf the same as rural schools in the US, which I attended, and suburban schools, or is it broader? If wider, why?
How much does this explain the low and declining birth rate that China is experiencing?
I wonder if migrant workers in Singapore, Malaysia face similar pressures. I doubt they can bring their families with them, and so have to leave their children behind in their countries of origin.
This is a poignant read. The sacrifice that migrant workers endure in China is humbling. The fight for a dignified life the world over is the same. I have so much to learn.
This is an excellent report which jives with my observations from 20 years earlier. It reminds me of the USA in the 1960s/70s, where skin colour stands in for place of birth. As China modernizes if it is not addressed this will give rise to some of the same ills that the USA has been living through from the 1990s to present.
There are interesting differences, no doubt due to the ease of using skin colour rather than place of birth as a control mechanism, so it was relatively easy to put black families in ghettos close to the urban elites that they serviced and suburban wastelands/apartheid Bantustan towns close to service rural landlord/farmers, all so they had to face the same lack of jobs, poor quality/cheap schooling and health/medical treatment that kept wages and benefits down. Not dissimilar to that forcing mostly female workers to depart back to their village, particularly if grandparent free labour isn't available. It also creates the absent male/father figure even more effectively than the welfare state rules of Carter/Reagan/Clinton were at driving black males out of the family and into the role of sperm donor. One can only hope there are factors in China and Chinese culture to mitigate this disruption of the traditional family or a huge lost generation awaits to greet the aging, shrinking population.
A poignant story. Well shared. Without making time and space for the study of humanity its not possible to improve.
Wow. Severe sacrifices are obviously being made.
I do not have the necessary frame of reference to understand the reasons. Obviously, I get that provincial schools do not produce the same level of success, but why? Is the Gulf the same as rural schools in the US, which I attended, and suburban schools, or is it broader? If wider, why?