The primary objective of this study is to unfold the interactive
relationship between government policies and internal population mobility
in the People's Republic of China since 1978 by comparing the state
migration control system and the other related policies and the observed
migration patterns. Household registration information and data from the
1982 and 1990 Censuses, as well as various large-scale migration
surveys are employed to detail the temporal, spatial and sectoral patterns
of population mobility in China at different levels.
The study reveals that the patterns of population movement
observed in the 1980s, based upon the existing data, are totally different
from that of the Maoist era. While permanent migration has increased
steadily during the first decade of the economic reforms, it has been
outpaced by temporary migration, which has been accelerated since the
second half of the 1980s, and has been highly concentrated in coastal
large cities. The study will further demonstrate that the tremendous
increase in population mobility and the resultant spatial pattern are very
much a combined effect of Maoist economic development strategy and
the Dengist economic reforms.
It has been evident that the Chinese government had tried very hard
to control permanent migration by the administrative and economic
measures and the social monitoring system during the Maoist era.
Particular attention was given to the rural-urban migration, with a stern
and all-rounded migration controlling system to block undesirable
migration coupled with repeated large-scale dispatching of urban residents
to rural areas. The economic reforms saw a shift from an active and
direct participation by the state in the migration process to a more passive
and indirect involvement. Indeed, the economic restructuring gave rise to
market influence in various aspects of the centrally planned economy of
China. Many previous controlling measures, not just those specifically
established for manipulating individual movement, lost their effectiveness.
However, it does not mean that there has been a total collapse of
government control.