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Saturday, April 13, 2013

Why Chinese Migrant Workers Are Abandoning the Country's Top Cities

Why Chinese Migrant Workers Are Abandoning the Country's Top Cities

Every year, workers living in Beijing or Shanghai visit their homes for Chinese New Year. More and more are deciding not to come back.

Shi Yunhan

The Atlantic April 10 2013

In Beijing, budget rental housing -- especially bunk beds, small apartments and single rooms in the more dilapidated hutong areas -- are easy to find after Chinese New Year. This is because many migrant workers who leave the capital for their home regions for the new year choose not to return. Although there are no national statistics on this still under-researched phenomenon known as the "tide of return" (huixiangchao), the numbers of workers who leave China's overcrowded coastal metropolises to pursue their dreams in humbler settings has been steadily growing in past years.

Between December 31, 2012 and February 22, 2013, the large coastal city of Xiamen "lost" 36,200 registered migrant workers, and hourly salaries for cooks and cleaners are on a steady rise. On Sina Weibo, a popular micro-blogging platform, user @猫爷困了commented: "The pressure is really huge. I should pack up my mattress and get going too."

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