Migration and migrants in Chinese cities: New trends, challenges and opportunities to theorise with urban China

This introductory article to the special issue discusses some of the latest trends in migration research in urban China and focuses on three areas which have generated new understandings on migration and migrants in Chinese cities. Firstly, it identifies the various similarities and intersections between urban resettlement and migration studies by drawing on the case of China where the livelihoods and experience of migrants and resettled residents have been affected by China’s rapid urbanisation. Secondly, the paper discusses the enduring significance of the residential neighbourhood in influencing the place attachment, social relationships and career development of migrant residents. Finally, it delves deeper into the various ways studies have sought to categorise and differentiate between different migrant sub-groups in urban China and reveals that more fine-grained migration studies have helped better understand China’s large and ever more diverse migrant population and their variegated living experiences and challenges.

本期特刊的这篇引言文章探讨了中国城市移民研究的一些最新趋势，并聚焦于三个领域，这些领域对中国城市中的移民和移徙者产生了新的认识。首先，文章以中国为例，指出城市安置研究和移民研究之间的各种相似之处和交叉点，在中国，移民和安置居民的生计和经历受到了中国快速城市化的影响。其次，本文讨论了居住社区在影响移民居民的地方归属感、社会关系和职业发展方面的持久重要性。最后，文章更深入地探讨了各种研究试图对中国城市中不同的移民亚群体进行分类和区分的方式，并揭示出更细致的移民研究有助于更好地理解中国庞大且日益多样化的移民人口以及他们多样的生活经历和挑战。