The Ever-Floating Floater A Floaters Insight to the Changes in China - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The Ever-Floating Floater A Floater’s Insight to the Changes in China

Summary ● Zhang Erhua, 28-years-old, is a member of China’s floating population. ● He is currently working at a recycling plant in Gan Jia Zhai

China’s Floating Population Back in the 1950s, the government instituted the hukou, a household registration ● system that kept track of China’s population. ● The hukou designated every citizen as rural or urban Although restrictions have eased and the system no longer prevents peasants from ● heading cityward, it does keep them from accessing a lot of city services and labels them as outsiders. ● Types of members of the floating population: Permanent Resident: find career paths and stay in the city for years, but are still considered floaters ○ because their hukou is registered back in their village Steady Floaters: go back to the countryside several times a year to help with planting and ○ harvesting, but generally stick to the same line of work each time they return to the city Opportunity Seekers: come to the city just once to fulfill some financial need and then resume their ○ agrarian lifestyles Liudong: float from place to place and job to job with no apparent pattern ○

“These days, peasants flood China’s urban areas in an ever-increasing stream, snapping up all manner of dangerous and distasteful jobs and helping catapult the country ahead, while they themselves remain largely on the outskirts of society, unable to enjoy the fruits of their labor or fully integrate into urban life.” (pg 92)

The Laoxiang Network ● Laoxiang: a hometown mate, someone from you home village ● Laoxiang connections can help you find jobs in the city ○ Help employers feel that they are getting reliable workers, while those seeking jobs feel more confident that they will be treated well and paid regularly ● It serve as a makeshift safety net where everyone looks out for their own

“But the ironic thing for Zhang is that for all the focus on money, for all the conniving and wheedling to get ahead, he doesn’t see many migrants attaining a significantly better life” (pg 99)

“...it is clear just how rapidly the rest of China is changing. But the real change that Zhang has noticed-- the change that is affecting everyone-- is the change taking place in people’s hearts.” (pg 101)