Winter 2008
Book Reviews
Will the Boat Sink the Water?
Will the Boat Sink the Water?: The Life of China's Peasants by Chen Guidi and Wu Chuntao.
Reviewed by Brad Burgess
Peoples of China
Hearing the Different Voices in Urban China
A personal look at two migrants in Beijing illustrates the character and strength of many ordinary people who live in difficult situations in a changing China.
Supporting Article
Educational Inequality for Migrant Children Perpetuates Poverty
Even after thirty years of economic reform, the majority of rural migrants in China's cities are still kept out of the formal labor market and professional tracks. Most of them pick up jobs in the informal sector. Such social inequality is likely to be perpetuated given the fact that their second generation is not provided with quality education. In China, education, often considered a way of changing one's life trajectory, now only reproduces social status and reinforces class boundaries.
Lead Article
The Moving Population of China
China's migrant population presents both challenges and uncertainties.
View From the Wall
Everyone Is Not Local
Migrant workers make important contributions to China's cities but also pose tremendous challenges. A resident of Beijing explores how migrants fit in the capital and how Beijingers view them.
Supporting Article
China’s Marginalized Internal Migrants
The world of China's "floating population" is vastly different from the world of its city dwellers.