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Low-Wage Migrants in North-Western Beijing: The Precarious Tenancy and Floating Life

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Spatial Mobility of Migrant Workers in Beijing, China

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Abstract

This chapter covers the housing survey of the low-wage migrant tenants, who have been viewed as hikers or sojourners in the urbanization and growth process. It begins with a review of the hukou policy, explaining how the hukou system has functioned as a selective entry mechanism for migrant workers into the host cities. A housing survey was conducted from February to April 2011 in Beijing’s Great Zhongguancun Area, which reflects the effects of a new wave of city-branding movements (including plans for a world-class IT centre) and tightening of residency controls since the late 2000s. The survey examines the migrants’ housing and re-housing experiences in north-western Beijing and their adaptive response to the demolition of illegal rented housing. Results have indicated that the low-wage migrant tenants, who are ‘transient residents’ with few rights or protections, can be easily forced out of areas identified as prime sites for city-branding projects.

I need to thank the Wiley Publishing for granting permission to adopt materials in this chapter from the following source: John Wiley & Sons Ltd., for tables, figures and related text in Ran Liu, Tai-Chee Wong and Shenghe Liu (2013) Low-wage migrants in northwestern Beijing, China: The hikers in the urbanisation and growth process. Asia Pacific Viewpoint 54(3), pp. 352–371.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    ‘Shunyi Model’ and ‘Daxing Model’ adopted in Beijing are new approaches introduced in 2010 in order to regulate the in-flow of unskilled and low-wage migrant workers. Since the late 2000s, the Shunyi and Daxing Districts have built higher end industries that require higher skilled workforce to run and higher end housing. This approach has slowed down low-wage migrant growth. Consequently, some small businesses that provided jobs for unskilled migrants were shut down; migrant workers in the low-end services were given a 3-month temporary residency card.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Resource Environment and Tourism, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China

    Ran Liu

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  1. Ran Liu
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Liu, R. (2015). Low-Wage Migrants in North-Western Beijing: The Precarious Tenancy and Floating Life. In: Spatial Mobility of Migrant Workers in Beijing, China. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14738-3_5

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