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Migration and Small Towns in China

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Migration and Small Towns in China Working Paper Series on Rural-Urban Interactions and Livelihood Strategies WORKING PAPER 16 Migration and small towns in China Power hierarchy and resource allocation Bingqin Li and Xiangsheng An July 2009 ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S) Bingqin Li is a Lecturer in Social Policy at London School of Economics. She is also a research associate of CASE (The Centre for Analyses of Social Exclusion) at LSE. In the past five years, she has collaborated closely with researchers from China, Korea, Japan, India and the United States to examine the social exclusion faced by rural to urban migrants, long term unemployed people and informally employed people. Her research work has covered coastal and inland cities. She has been lecturing on International Housing and Social Economics. She has been given talks in other universities in Britain, China and Japan regarding issues related to urban social exclusion. Xiangsheng An is a Professor of Geography at Taiyuan Normal University. He is the Deputy Director of the Institute of Urban and Tourism Studies of Taiyuan Normal University and the Member of the Standing Committee of Geography Association of Shanxi Province. He is a member of the Consultant Group of the Department of Land Resources of Shanxi Government. His main research interests are economic geography and land planning. He had received various research awards at the provincial level. © IIED 2009 Human Settlements Group International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) 3 Endsleigh Street London WC1H 0DD, UK Tel: 44 20 7388 2117 (international); 020 7388 2117 (UK) Fax: 44 20 7388 2826 (international); 020 7388 2826 (UK) ISBN: 978-1-84369-740-4 This paper can be downloaded free of charge from http://www.iied.org/pubs/display.php?o=10575IIED. A printed version of this paper is also available from Earthprint for US$20 (www.earthprint.com) The authors would like to thank the following people for their help in carrying out this research. Wanzhong Meng (Lecturer in Taiyuan Normal University) carried out the in depth interviews in Xugou. Liping Zhang (School teacher in Xinghuacun Middle School) carried out interviews in Xinghuacun and summarized the data. Shihong Lv (School Teaching in Liulin Middle School) carried out the in depth interviews in Qikou and summarized the data. Professor Yuting Yuan participated in the case selection workshop and attended field trips to Hejin with the researchers. Professor Wenjiong Guo (Taiyuan Normal University) participated in the case selection workshop. Professor Yuxuan Li (Taiyuan Normal University) led the field trip in Pingyao. Several students from Taiyuan Normal University carried out surveys for this project. They are Yanyan Li, Hongying Guo, Dongpo Liu, Xiaorui Hou and Wenjun Qiu. The pictures in this report are the copyright of Guy Mayraz and are used with his permission. This paper and the research on which it draws were prepared with financial support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (Danida). However, the views expressed here are the authors’ sole responsibility. ii Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1 1 Definition of key terms .................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Small towns in China............................................................................................... 1 1.1.1 Officially recognized towns (Jianzhizhen) ........................................................... 1 1.1.2 Urban towns and rural towns............................................................................... 2 1.2 Definitions of migrants in China............................................................................... 2 2 Part I: The changing role of small towns - a historical review ................................. 3 2.1 Bottom-up rural industrialization.............................................................................. 3 2.1.1 Township enterprises .......................................................................................... 4 2.2 Small town development as a strategy.................................................................... 5 2.2.1 Industrialization ................................................................................................... 5 2.2.2 Urbanization ........................................................................................................ 6 3 Part II: Small towns and migration—the analytical framework ................................ 8 3.1 Power hierarchy in the Chinese urban administration system ................................ 8 3.1.1 The historical status of small towns..................................................................... 8 3.1.2 From 1949 to the present .................................................................................... 9 3.2 Hierarchy of administration.................................................................................... 10 3.3 Town development planning ................................................................................. 10 3.4 State intervention in small town development ....................................................... 12 3.5 The resource allocation system............................................................................. 15 3.5.1 Merging village authorities into towns ............................................................... 19 3.6 Small town authorities and fundraising.................................................................. 20 3.6.1 Township enterprises ........................................................................................ 20 3.6.2 Mixed funding for social services ...................................................................... 22 3.6.3 Land as a source of income .............................................................................. 22 3.6.4 Other fundraising efforts.................................................................................... 22 4 Part III: Four small towns in Shanxi ........................................................................... 23 4.1 The central provinces and Shanxi......................................................................... 23 4.1.1 Shanxi Province ................................................................................................ 27 4.1.2 Financing small town development ................................................................... 30 4.1.3 Small town development plans.......................................................................... 30 4.2 The case studies ................................................................................................... 31 4.3 Case 1: Xinghuacun............................................................................................. 32 4.3.1 Social and economic background ..................................................................... 32 4.3.2 The alcohol industry .......................................................................................... 34 4.3.3 Other economic activities .................................................................................. 37 4.3.4 Research findings in Xinghuacun...................................................................... 37 4.3.5 The relationship between Fenjiu Group and the local authorities ..................... 43 4.3.6 Summary of the case of Xinghuacun ................................................................ 44 4.4 Case 2: Qikou........................................................................................................ 44 4.4.1 Social and economic background ..................................................................... 44 4.4.2 Migration............................................................................................................ 48 4.4.3 Research findings in Qikou ............................................................................... 49 4.4.4 Summary ........................................................................................................... 55 4.5 Case 3: Pingyao Ancient Town—Gutao................................................................ 55 4.5.1 Social and economic background ..................................................................... 55 4.5.2 The relationship between authorities at different levels .................................... 61 4.5.3 Problems faced by the town government .......................................................... 62 iii 4.5.4 Summary ........................................................................................................... 66 4.6 Case 4: Xugou....................................................................................................... 66 4.6.1 Social and economic background ..................................................................... 66 4.6.2 Migration and population ................................................................................... 68 4.6.3 Influence from central government.................................................................... 71 4.6.4 The role of the province in migration in Xugou.................................................. 72 4.6.5 The dilemma of Xugou authorities..................................................................... 72 4.6.6 Summary ........................................................................................................... 73 5
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