Ethnographic portraits: exploring drivers of in and out migration in Beiyang Town

Abstract

Migration studies in China have largely focused on rural to urban flows to first-tier cities that are attractive in terms of economic opportunities and lifestyle. Drivers of migration to small towns and rural areas, however, remain overlooked. With comparatively less developed infrastructure and institutional structures, critical challenges arise in the process of accommodating migrant groups in these regions. Through multiple field investigations between 2019 and 2022 across small towns and villages around Beiyang Town in the west of Huangyan – a secondary city-district in the Yangtze River Delta economic belt – we observed that, despite the region’s out-migration, its relatively strong economic condition has attracted rural migrants from poorer provinces to engage in modern agriculture and industrial production.

Our contribution showcases two ethnographic portraits – elderly factory workers and migratory watermelon planters – to capture in- and out- migration patterns and perspectives encountered across the rural-urban hinterland of Beiyang Town. Through the combination of empirical material, we reveal different forms of migration, and provide rich text and visual descriptions of the underlying social, institutional, and economic forces that influence population flows from an everyday perspective.

Full text

Universitätsverlag der TU Berlin
URA PERIODICAL · ISSUE 2
Dialogues
EDITORS
Ava Lynam
Huang Huang
Sigrun Abels
Guiqing Yang

Ethnographic portraits: exploring
drivers of in and out migration in
Beiyang Town
Gaoli Xiao1, Ava Lynam1
1 Centre for Cultural Studies on Science and Technology in China (CCST), TU Berlin
Migration studies in China have largely focused on rural to urban
ows to rst-tier cities that are attractive in terms of economic op-
portunities and lifestyle (see, e.g., Chan, 1994; Cheng et al., 2014; Ge
et al., 2020; Hao & Tang, 2015; Li, 2006; Xu et al., 2020). Drivers of mi-
gration to small towns and rural areas, however, remain overlooked.
With comparatively less developed infrastructure and institutional
structures, critical challenges arise in the process of accommodating
migrant groups in these regions.
Through multiple eld investigations between 2019 and 2022
across small towns and villages around Beiyang Town in the west of
Huangyan – a secondary city-district in the Yangtze River Delta eco-
nomic belt – we observed that, despite the region’s out-migration,
its relatively strong economic condition has attracted rural migrants
from poorer provinces to engage in modern agriculture and indus-
trial production. Investigating the drivers behind such migratory pat-
terns – and the challenges facing different migrant groups – cannot
be achieved without centring human experiences in the process of
departure and arrival.
Our contribution showcases two ethnographic portraits – elderly
factory workers and migratory watermelon planters – to capture in-
and out- migration patterns and perspectives encountered across the
rural-urban hinterland of Beiyang Town. Through the combination of
empirical material – extracts from informal conversations, semi-struc-
tured interviews, participatory observations documented in eld notes,
architectural spatial mapping – we reveal different forms of migration,
and provide rich text and visual descriptions of the underlying social,
institutional, and economic forces that inuence population ows
from an everyday perspective.
72

Around 2015, Beiyang Town started to develop its southern zone – pri-
marily occupied by farmland – into an industrial area. The relatively
cheap land attracted successful moulding and plastic factories locat-
ed in the urban area of Huangyan to expand their businesses there.
Although supported by the government, factories in Beiyang Town’s
new industrial zone remain challenged by their peripheral geographic
location.
During eld work in March 2022, a plastic factory manufacturing
products such as Christmas decorations was investigated. The factory
was unable to employ enough local labourers as most young people
have moved to the more developed urban area of Huangyan, as well
as other major cities. Labour-intensive and low salaried jobs are not
attractive to the remaining local population, which mainly consists of
elderly people, women, and children. As a result, the factory employed
around 140 migrant workers, accounting for more than half of the to-
tal work force.
PORTRAIT 1: RURAL-TO-TOWN MIGRATION
The experience of elderly seasonal workers in Beiyang Town’s
factories
Field notes extract: 3pm on 23rd March 2022, at the
plastic factory in Beiyang Town’s industrial zone.
People in the oce working on
computers looked very young,
whilst people in the production
workshops were mostly elder-
ly. The women in the workshop
were using small knives to cut
off irregular edges of small, soft,
pink plastic bins. They worked in a
relaxed manner listening to audio-
books and pop songs.
Beiyang Town and the spatial transformation of its industrial zone from 2013 to 2019. Source: Maps developed by
Gaoli XIAO using Map Data ©2013 Google, Map Data ©2019 Google, Map Data ©2022 Google
1
73EXPLORATORY PR ACT ICES

Almost all these migrant workers, with an average age of over 60,
came from the same village in Henan – a province famous for its la-
bour output as a result of its poor economic status – through social
networks or labour brokers. They are highly mobile seasonal workers
who often remain engaged with agricultural practices in their home-
town. Three migrant workers – Zhang, Yang, and Xue (alias) – were
encountered inside the factory canteen and their dormitory room. The
women held Henan Hukou1, and were 56, 67, and 60 years old, respec-
tively. Extracts from two interviews give an insight into their experi-
ences of migration in this industrialising zone, in terms of living and
work conditions, motivations for migration, and their visions for the
future.
Zhang: My salary is 10 ¥ (approx. €1.40) per hour. I usual-
ly work 8 hours per day, and when there is extra work, 12
hours.
Xue: We have injury insurance, but our health insurance is
tied to our hometown. Our pension is 2000¥ (approx. €285)
per year, but some only get 990¥ (approx. €140).
Zhang: My two sons are also in Zhejiang province – Jiax-
ing and Hangzhou. I have two grandchildren. I can’t take
care of them anymore. They needed to go to school, so my
daughter-in-law went back home and I came out to work.
Yang: My son and his wife work in Henan province, but the
salary is too low to raise their kids. My granddaughter has
to pay 16,000¥ (approx. €2,200 ) tuition every year.
Zhang: My son works in Meide (a big company). They have
higher requirements and I’m not qualied.
Yang: The factories where my son works don’t take old
people.
Zhang: Seven people. One person, one bunk bed.
Zhang: It’s okay. I’m not a picky person, as long as I have
food and accommodation. The factory dorm is ne for me.
Xue: It’s better to be occupied here than doing nothing at
home. It’s very lonely back home. Here at least we have
seven people in the dorm.
Zhang: I go back to the dorm and relax. Sometimes I buy
things on the street. I try not to go out too much as I will
just spend money.
Zhang: I used to work in restaurants and factories in my
hometown, but the working hours were 12 hours per day. It
was too much for me. Here the workload is less, although
the salary was higher back home.
Xue: We don’t have land anymore. Nowadays agriculture is
mechanised back home.
How are your work-
ing conditions?
Where is your family?
Why don’t you work
in the same place as
your family?
How many people are
there in your dorm?
How is your life here?
What do you do after
work?
Why did you come to
Beiyang Town?
1 Hukou (户口) is a system of household registration in China previously tied to urban or rural
status, with impacts on public service and social welfare access.
74

Having lost their livelihood from land exploitation and agricultural
mechanisation, elderly farmers from Henan travelled to Huangyan to
make ends meet with a spirit of resilience and adaptivity. Meanwhile,
their efforts in trans-local production lines make them marginal yet
active participants in the globalised economy; the products of their
labour making their way from Beiyang Town into the European mar-
ketplace.
The migration of older people into small towns and rural areas, in-
stead of big cities, creates specic challenges for the hosting region.
Unlike labour-age migrants, the specic needs of elderly migrants –
such as cultural and social belonging, and public services such as
healthcare – require more targeted infrastructure and welfare provi-
sion. Our investigations in Beiyang Town reveal that factories general-
ly only cover the migrant workers with injury insurance, while health
insurance and pension are tied to their Hukou registration in their
hometowns. With minimal social and institutional engagement with
the local villages, elderly workers experience little place attachment –
shaping their everyday routines as well as their future migration
choices.
Zhang: If I like it here, I will stay for one year then go home.
Otherwise I will leave anytime.
Xue: Depends if we still have the strength to work. If we
can’t handle it anymore, we will go home. We all are sea-
sonal workers, and have to go back during the harvest
season (to work in modernised farms managed by external
owners).
Yang: When I can’t move anymore. But now factories are
restricting the age of workers. Without skills we can only
nd work like this.
Xue: We want to work as long as we can. We don’t want to
burden our children.
Yang: Yes. They are also old. Young people don’t want to
work in the production line, they prefer oces. Some young
people came and left because they didn’t want to be sur-
rounded by elderly people.
How long do you plan
to stay here?
When would you like
to retire?
Are there locals work-
ing in the factory?
Left: Internal view of the canteen for the workers of the plastic factory.
Right: Dorm room in the plastic factory accommodating migrant workers.
Source: Photos by Gaoli XIAO
2
75EXPLORATORY PRACTICES

Watermelon planting by outgoing migrant farmers has been a tradi-
tion in the Huangyan region for many years. It has been estimated that
by 2021 more than 43,000 people have ventured out from Huangyan
to plant watermelons in 23 provinces across the country (Huangyan
District Committee Oce, 2021). In recent years, they have travelled
as far as Nigeria, Laos, and Myanmar. The practice dates back to 1983,
when ve farmers set out from the rural area of Huangyan to Shang-
hai to escape extreme poverty (ibid.). Their successes soon attracted
followers from their extended families, home villages, the surround-
ing villages and towns, and eventually the entire Huangyan region.
Outgoing watermelon planting has developed into a lucrative
and mature business in Huangyan. According to the mayor of Bei-
yang Town, the annual revenue from watermelon planting has dou-
bled the total agricultural output within the region (Mayor of Beiyang
Town, personal communication. 2022). Fitting into the broader polit-
ical vision of developing Beiyang Town into a ‘Characteristic Town’3
of modern agriculture, and with the high economic return increasing
the average income of the rural population, the local government has
established relevant policy incentives and plans to build supportive in-
frastructure. For example, an oce building designated for outgoing
PORTRAIT 2: RURAL-TO-RURAL MIGRATION
The experience of Huangyan’s mobile watermelon farmers going
global
Field notes extract: 11am on 9th March 2022, in the
watermelon seed shop in Moashe Township.
The street of Maoshe was wide,
with many roadside shops all
related to the watermelon produc-
tion chain – selling seeds, farming
machines, and plastic lms. The
boss of one of the shops showed
me a map on the wall which
traced the distribution of outgoing
watermelon planters in China. He
said proudly: “My son is the vice
president of the World of Water-
melon farmers2
2 The ‘World of Watermelon Farmers’ is a digital platform (app) developed by the Development and Reform Oce and Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau
of Huangyan District. The platform provides site searches, agriculture nance, risk assessments, insurance, and many other watermelon planting related
services using big data supported algorithms (The People's Government of Zhejiang Province, 2021).
3 The ‘Characteristic Town’, or tese xiaozhen (特色小镇) is a ‘one town one characteristic industry’ development concept that has appeared in policy docu-
ments since 2015, with the aim of attracting investment to rural areas, cultivating emerging industries, and promoting rural revitalisation (Zhu et al 2018;
Liao and Yi 2018).
Above: Socio-spatial mapping of a factory dorm room.
Source: Drawing by Ava Lynam
3
76

watermelon farmers – as well as other modern agriculture entrepre-
neurs – is planned to be built on local land, stretching as large as 40
hectares (ibid.)
A substantial highly mobile and adaptive group has subsequent-
ly been established in the local area around the practice of water-
melon planting. They return twice a year for 2-4 months, purchase
everything they need, and set out again to farm in various regions.
The conversations with villagers around Beiyang Town revealed that
watermelon planting as a family business serves as a back-up plan for
the younger generation who often fail to nd better opportunities in
cities. Many households have at least one family member engaged in
the watermelon planting business. An extract from an interview with
the Beiyang Town mayor illustrates the motivations and experiences
of out-migrating watermelon farmers, as well as their attachment to
their hometown.
It started in Maoshe Township and Shangyang Village. Peo-
ple here are very capable of imitating. After seeing friends
and relatives making money outside, many others went
along with them. The original reason was poverty. Maoshe
and Shangyang were both very small and poor, so people
had no choice but to go out.
Nowadays it’s different as watermelon planting has be-
come a business chain. There are online agents through
whom you can go anywhere in China with your suitcase
and plant watermelons. They even reached Southeast Asia.
The Huangyan District Government has developed policies
to protect the rights of watermelon planters in other areas
(through legislation, bank loans, and insurance). Their busi-
ness operations went digital. Mobile watermelon planting is
also viewed as part of our modern agriculture development
strategy.
Everyone wants to return to their hometown when they are
old. As an old Chinese saying goes: “Falling leaves return
to roots (落叶归根)”. This is our traditional culture. Anoth-
er reason is that most out-going villagers still can’t afford
apartments in the urban area. Here it is cheaper, and they
can build their houses themselves.
How did people start
going out to plant
watermelons?
What is the situation
today?
Why would people
who made money
planting watermel-
ons choose to come
back instead of set-
tling somewhere else?
77EXPLORATORY PR ACT ICES

The watermelon planting business has turned seasonal agricultur-
al production into an alternative income for local farmers. As the busi-
ness expanded, many of the original outgoing farmers have become
agricultural entrepreneurs who hire local or migrant farmers on their
contracted planting sites (Huangyan District Committee Oce, 2021).
It is estimated that Huangyan’s watermelon farmers create more than
50,000 jobs in their planting sites every year (ibid.). Grassroots mutual
support and a strong community network has played a marked role in
this success. Without the help of the government in the initial phase,
farmers found their own ways of surviving land loss and rural decline.
Although highly mobile, watermelon farmers are closely tied to
their homeland socially, culturally, and nancially. Watermelon plant-
ing is often a risky activity – heavily dependent on weather conditions.
Villagers joke that those who made money and bought expensive cars
this year have to sell them next year if the weather is bad. This nan-
cial risk is one of the ties binding outgoing farmers to their homeland,
as the support from fellow planters and loans from local agricultural
banks are vital to survive times of hardship. Meanwhile, strong place
attachment to their hometowns and family values is a motivation to
spend prots on renovating or building their village house.
Left: The main street of Maoshe Township, lled with shops supplying goods for watermelon planting.
Right: Internal view of a watermelon seed shop. Source: Photos by Gaoli XIAO
Left: Map in a watermelon seed shop in Maoshe Township indicating the nationwide distribution of
out-going watermelon farmers.
Right: The organisational structure of the watermelon planter community, with the slogan, “Establish
businesses on the foreign lands, serve fellow planters, reward homeland”.
Source: Photos by Gaoli XIAO
4
5
78

Reections
International migration studies show that migration from Global
South to North is mainly driven by uneven development, rather than
poverty (Castles, 2004). A similar phenomenon could be observed
with China’s internal migration. Regional imbalances have created
fragmented social and economic realities, triggering diverse migrato-
ry patterns from underdeveloped to developed areas (He et al., 2019;
Zhu et al., 2020). Our study nds that within Huangyan, unbalanced
urban-rural development triggered out-migration from rural to urban.
On a national scale, people from poor rural regions are moving into
economically more prosperous Huangyan to nd jobs that are not
available in their hometowns.
The small-scale empirical study presented in this article reveals that
small towns and rural areas in Huangyan are not attractive enough
for local labourers to stay as regular dwellers, nor are they ideal des-
tinations for labour in-migrants for the long term. For out-migrants
with aspirations for increased income and who are capable of moving,
neither farming nor local factory jobs are considered favourable. For
in-migrants, the predominant driver of income generation ("Zheng-
qian", a Chinese term mentioned by many interviewees) contributes
to weak place attachment during the initial phase of migration. With-
out sucient incentives to settle down, migrant factory workers estab-
lish minimum interactions with their temporary places of arrival, and
maintain their social networks, administrative status, and cultural ac-
tivities in their homeland. In the long term, insucient infrastructure
provision, strong roots, and cultural identity – combined with institu-
tional barriers, such as access to local health insurance and education –
further reduce in-migrants’ sense of belonging and contribute to their
often highly mobile life trajectory.
Socio-spatial mapping of a watermelon seed shop.
Source: Drawing by Ava Lynam
6
79EXPLORATORY PR ACTICES

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