Left-behind elderly: shouldering a disproportionate share of production and reproduction in supporting China’s industrial development

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size

Notes

1 Migrant peasant workers refers to those who worked outside their towns/townships for more than six months in that year, while in situ peasant workers refers to those who worked in non-farm sectors within their towns/townships for more than six months in that year.

2 38 refers to 8 of March, Women’s Day, which applies to left-behind women; 61 refers to 1 June, Children’s Day, which refers to the left-behind children; 99 refers to 9 September in the Chinese lunar calendar, which refers to the left-behind elderly.

3 The research team pioneered the first comprehensive research on left-behind children in China in 2004, and expanded the research to left-behind women and left-behind elderly people in 2006. The team has 26 members, including faculty and postgraduate researchers. The team has also conducted interventions aimed at helping the target group of left-behind populations in several rural communities in China. The team’s research is leading work within Chinese academic communities and has generated in-depth coverage, including in international media. Research projects on this theme have been financially supported by Bread for the World – Protestant Development Service, Plan International, World Bank, China Agricultural University ‘985’ Programme, The Programme for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET-06-0118) (China), and The National Social Science Fund of China (Project No. 13ASH007).

4 The names of interviewees, villages, townships and counties in this contribution have all been changed.

5 One mu equals 1/15 ha.

6 A lot of schools closed in rural China in recent years because of the school mapping policy. Parents are increasingly sending their children to schools in the towns or county cities in order to get a better education or because there are no schools nearby. The mother or a grandparent often rents or even buys an apartment near the school to look after their children.

7 Yuan is the Chinese currency; one yuan equals to approximately 0.16 USD.

8 ‘Urban villages’ refers to concentrated residential areas which were previously villages inhabited by peasants, but the farmland has been expropriated for urban construction and peasants have become ‘citizens’. Urban villages appear on both the outskirts and in the downtown segments of major Chinese cities, surrounded by skyscrapers, transport infrastructures and other modern urban constructions. Many rural migrant workers rent places in such areas, as the rents are relatively low.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jingzhong Ye

Jingzhong Ye is a professor of development studies and Dean at the College of Humanities and Development Studies, China Agricultural University. His research interests include development intervention and rural transformation, rural society and agrarian change, rural–urban migration and the left-behind population, agrarian sociology and land politics, rural education and social problems. Email: [email protected]

Congzhi He

Congzhi He is an associate professor at the College of Humanities and Development Studies, China Agricultural University. Her research mainly covers rural social security issues, rural left-behind elderly people, rural development policy and civil society. Email: [email protected]

Juan Liu

Juan Liu is an assistant professor at the College of Humanities and Social Development, Northwest A&F University, China, and a post-doctoral researcher at The International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague. She has a PhD in development studies. Her research interests include internal migration and left-behind populations, social policies, rural politics, land politics and the political economy of agriculture, environment and food. Email: [email protected]

Weijing Wang

Weijing Wang is a senior lecturer at the College of Administration at Guangzhou, Guangdong. She has a PhD degree in development studies and a bachelor’s degree in sociology. She has broad research interests in development and rural transformation, and specializes in new land reforms and the citizenization of landless farmers. Email: [email protected]

Shidong Chen

Shidong Chen is a lecturer at the College of Humanities and Development Studies, China Agricultural University. He has a PhD degree in development studies. His research mainly covers rural left-behind elderly people, rural development and vulnerability. Email: [email protected]