In recent decades, China has experienced an urbanization process that is unparalleled in history. Since 2011, more Chinese people have been living in cities than in the countryside; the figure is now over 66%. The emergence of large cities and megacities was accompanied by enormous internal migration from the countryside to the cities. Although state control of mobility is only partially successful, the Communist Party is trying to control this process. Migration and urbanization policy are therefore a central pillar of Chinese population policy; in addition to the long-standing and recently relaxed birth control regulations. They go hand in hand with sometimes rigid legal and social policy measures. A central component of this is the system of migrant workers, who supply the growing cities with the necessary labor but maintain close social ties to the country.
The lecture and discussion will show these developments and the political measures that are intended to control them in more detail. This makes the social and economic dynamics of modern China particularly clear. And the question arises as to whether political control is really as powerful as it claims to be…
Lecture:
Dr. Daniel Fuchs is a sinologist and political scientist. He works as a research assistant at the Institute for Asian and African Studies at HU Berlin and has long been researching migration and working conditions in China.
Moderation:
Linus Josef Schlüter is a sinologist and project coordinator of the China Competence Platform for universities and research institutions in Thuringia at the FSU Jena.
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