\Rural migrant workers are the offspring of China's transition from an agricultural to industrial society. The year 2008 marks the 30th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up policy. In the past three decades, dramatic social and economic changes have taken place. As a special social group, what have rural workers contributed to the social and economic development of China? Wang Chunguang, a research fellow studying rural migrant workers in the Institute of Sociology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, shared his views on these issues with Beijing Review.

Beijing Review: How did rural migrant workers come into being, and how do you understand them?

Wang Chunguang: Rural migrant workers are a special social group born in China's social transition after the initiation of the reform and opening-up policy three decades ago.

There are two sides to the opening-up policy: opening up to the outside world and opening up within the country itself. Opening up between the urban and rural areas is key to opening up within the country itself. When the market economy was introduced into China, it made labor mobility more important. In the early 1980s, a large amount of surplus rural workers swarmed into the cities to look for jobs.

International experience shows that during the industrialization and urbanization process, migration of rural workers into cities is a natural phenomenon. In most countries, as farmers enter the cities, their social identities change. Yet in China, although farmers entering the city are doing the job of workers, they are still identified as farmers, and cannot enjoy the same social privileges as other workers. To distinguish them from regular workers, these farmers are called "rural migrant workers." More or less, the title smells of discrimination.

A massive influx of such a large amount of rural farmers has challenged city management and affected the lives of urban residents. The cities were not ready. The social order in the cities was disrupted, crime rates shot up, traffic was jammed, and the living conditions deteriorated. Urban dwellers and city managers blamed rural migrant workers for the troubles.

In the late 1980s, in light of these problems, the government proposed an "ordered flow" policy to regulate the migration of rural workers. This policy required farmers to apply for permits before working in the cities. For instance, they should obtain work permits and health certificates from the local government in their hometown, and acquire a temporary residence permit and professional training certificate from the local government in their destination city.

Later it turned out that these measures did not bring about the desired ordered flow, but rather created a slew of new problems. For instance, some money-hungry government agencies saw permit granting a lucrative business and required farmers to apply for more and more permits. The financial burden on farmers got heavier.

A change came in 2003. In that year, a freshly graduated university student went to Guangzhou in south China to look for a job. He did not have a temporary residence permit with him and was taken to a local shelter and repatriation facility for migrants where he was beaten to death.

Media coverage of the incident raised a public uproar. The shelter and repatriation system was abolished, and controls on the migrant population were loosened. In that year, Premier Wen Jiabao claimed unpaid wages for rural migrant workers and kicked off a national initiative pressing employers to pay rural migrant workers' deferred wages. In 2004, the government stated, "Farmers employed in the cities are a significant part of industrial workers." On January 18, 2006, the State Council issued the Opinion on How to Resolve Problems Related to Migrant Workers, which put forth specific measures to solve the problems faced by rural migrant workers.

In recent years, the social position of rural migrant workers has improved. For instance, in Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces, two major destinations for rural migrant workers, they are now called "new Guangdong residents" or "new Zhejiang residents."

In the past three decades, have there been any significant changes in the composition of the rural migrant worker population?

Rural migrant workers refer to farmers who move between rural and urban areas, who are hired by employers and whose primary source of income is wages. Farmers that run their own businesses in the cities are not rural migrant workers. These farmer-turned entrepreneurs account for less than 2 percent of all the farmers who have migrated to the cities.

Among rural migrant workers the proportion of young people is growing. Some of these young people were born in the 1990s. Although born in the countryside, they have neither experience nor interest in farming. Better educated than older farmers, these young people are eager to change their destiny. Unlike those from their parents' or grandparents' generations, who usually return to their hometowns after saving some money to support their families, these young people want to stay in the cities.

In light of these changes, the government should provide upward mobility opportunities for rural migrant workers, giving them direction and hope. If the young generation cannot get integrated into the cities and are reluctant to return to the countryside, then they will become drifters.

What have rural migrant workers contributed to China's social and economic development?

In the past decades, China has become a "world factory" and enjoyed robust economic growth. It is the abundance of cheap labor that has fuelled strong economic growth. Rural migrant workers are a major part of the cheap labor force.

What are the most pressing difficulties facing rural migrant workers?

Recently I conducted a survey. The survey shows that most rural migrant workers are optimistic about their future. However, they do have worries, primarily in the following three areas: pension, their children's education and housing.

The government is constructing an elderly care system serving rural migrant workers. A timetable has been set. That is very encouraging. One thing to note is that the making of such policies must be transparent and be open to input from rural migrant workers. Otherwise, good intentions might bring bad results.

Shenzhen in south China has been the frontrunner in implementing the reform and opening-up policy. An endowment insurance system for rural workers has been set up in the Special Economic Zone. Both individuals and employers are required to contribute to the system. Insurance is only offered locally, so when rural migrant workers move to another city or region, they lose the insurance. Rural migrant workers moving out of Shenzhen have no option but to withdraw from the system and reclaim their personal contribution. The employer's contribution to the account cannot be refunded and will become revenue for the local government. The local government has tacitly encouraged rural migrant workers to withdraw from the system.

This story demonstrates that providing social welfare is a very complicated issue, especially social welfare for such a highly mobile social group as rural migrant workers. If there is no institutional system that allows rural migrant farmers to be assimilated into cities, they can only drift between the rural and urban areas. Policies that have not taken the above fact into consideration might fail.

What is the status of the political and legislative rights of rural migrant workers? How has their awareness of political rights changed?

At present, rural migrant workers are fighting for their economic interests, such as reasonable and timely pay and unemployment insurance. More and more rural migrant workers have realized that to protect their economic interests they need to have greater political rights.

The political awareness of Chinese rural migrant workers has been enhanced gradually. Four or five years ago, rural migrant workers in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, participated in running their communities. Some were elected into the decision-making bodies of their communities and played leadership roles. Later, representatives of rural migrant workers served in local legislative bodies, reflecting official recognition of the political position of rural migrant workers. Now, rural migrant workers are represented in the National People's Congress, the top legislature in the country. A bridge between the decision-making bodies of the Central Government and farmers has been built. Now, empowered with a channel to express their opinions, rural migrant workers are more aware and enthusiastic about participating in public affairs.

On the other hand, improved awareness of rural migrant workers in protecting their legal rights can also spur economic growth. In the last two or three years there has been a shortage of rural migrant workers in economically developed regions in south China. This is directly related to the new generation of rural migrant farmers. In recent decades, although the economy in the southern coastal regions has been growing vigorously, wages have not increased significantly. A surge of prices has actually lowered real wages. As I mentioned before, the new generation of migrant rural farmers would like to enjoy a modern city lifestyle. While the old generation would accept any job offered to them if they did not have alternative employment opportunities lined up, the younger generation of migrant rural workers would rather stay jobless than take a low paid job with poor working conditions. The shortage of rural migrant workers has prompted some local governments to scale up minimum wages, establish a natural increase mechanism for wages, and enact laws to regulate the labor market.