On the Process of Peasant Workers' Transformation to Urban Residents

On the Process of Peasant Workers' Transformation to Urban ResidentsLiu Chuanjiang', Dong Yanfang', Wang Jing?1. Center for Economic Development Research, Wuhan University, Wuhan Hubei 430072, China;2. Center for Population, Resource and Environment Economy Research, Wuhan University, Wuhan Hubei 430072, ChinaAbstract: The unique two-stage “Chinese path" of China's几ral-urban migration in China. That is to say, a large numberral-urban migration, which cannot be fully explained by casicalof peasants do not spatially migrate at the same pace withtheories of economic development, makes us to give peasantheir occupational transference, thus forming a uniqueworkers' transformation to urban residents a top priority. On theworking group temporarily working in urban areas likebasis of fully explaining peasant workers' transformation to urbanbirds of passage. However, as everybody knows, urbaniza-residents, a method for measuring its process has been advancedtion implies not only rural people's migration into urbanand then confimed with the data of March in 2005 from surveysareas, but also their occupation in non-agricultural business,to peasant workers in Wuhan. Finally, the suggestions of acceler- and it means that peasant workers can live and also be rec-ating peasant workers' transformation to urban residents to pro-ognized as urban residents. The stagnation of a large num-mote the construction of a harmonious society have been drawn ber of migrant laborers as peasant workers who have notfrom the analysis.become urban esidents not only stands in the way in theKey words: nural-urban migation, peasant workers' transfoma-effective transference of rural surplus laborers, but alsotion to urban residents, process of peasant workers' transformationmay become a potential hazard, even an obstacle to theto urban residentsconstruction of a harmonious society. Therefore, advancingpeasant workers' transformation to urban residents is both1 Introductionimportant and urgent for the rural and urban constructionand the construction of a harmonious society.Rural-urban migration always emerged in the process ofhe industrialization and urbanization in traditional agri-2 Rural-uban migration of laborers and peasantcultural countries or regions. Since the policy of gradualworkers' transformation to urban residentsreform and opening up to the outside world has been im-2.1 "Chinese path" of rural-urban laborer migrationplemented in China, a large-scale labor migration hasemerged along with the rapid development of China'sAs stated above, the rural-urban labor migration ineconomy, which can be regarded as the certain conse-China has represented a unique“Chinese path", which hasquence of the structural adjustment of population due tobeen split into two stages. The first stage is for peasants towo factors: a large number of surplus laborers in ruralbe transformned to peasant workers; the other stage is forareas and the compensatory release of the accumulated peasant workers to be transformed to urban residents.potential energy because of reduced institutional contol.The most serious obstacle confronted by the first stageHowever, due to the same factors, China's rural-urban la- is the visible "Wall of household registration" establishedbor migration, compared with that of other developingby the central goverment in the period of planned econ-countries, has shown its unique characteristics. During theomy. In the early stage afer the People's Republic of Chinamigratory process, a unique group of labor forces--was founded, the central govemment established the basic“peasant workers" has formed. In terms of occupation, theyprinciple for household registration management, whichare industrial workers; in terms of social class, they belongwas aimed at safeguarding people's freedom to migrate.to a transitional stratum from peasants to urban residents;But in the following operational processes, this principleand in terms of social identity, they are still peasants. Suchwas not implemented fully in real termns due to some prac-a group is the embodiment of the uniqueness of the r-tical factors. In the “Regulations of P.R.C. ConcemingCorresponding author: Liu Chuanjiang (hiltu@whu edu.cn)中国煤化工Chinese Jou.MYHCNMHGu200.0.063Household Registration" issued in 1958, it was announcedricultural products enables the migration of people morethat people migrating from rural areas to urban areas mustconveniently;have contracts with the civil labor force department, ma-Fifthly, the non-agricultural industry in rural areas andtriculation certificates from colleges, or the permission toits comparative interests serves as incentives to acceleratemigrate to urban areas by urban registration agencies, andpeasants' migration;they had to apply for permission for migration to registra-Sixthly, the start of opening up of towns atracts peopletion agencies in their original residential places. In 1963,from rural areas;the central govemment established a dual registrationSeventhly, the disparity of development degree betweenmanagement mechanism to partition rural and urban regis-various urban areas increases the potential energy of peo-tered permanent residents based on whether the residentsple's migration.consumed“commodity grain" for tightly restraining ruralIn such a social context, a large number of peasantsresidents from migrating to urban areas. In 1964, the Statehave moved from rural areas to urban areas. They haveCouncil approved of“Regulations on Management of Mi-become non-agricultural employees who are first separatedgration by the Ministry of Public Security (Draf)", furtherfrom peasants and also have economic relationships withrestricting rural-urban migration. In 1975, the Constitutionagricultural land to some degree. They are occupied incancelled the articles on the freedom of migration. In 1977,non-agricultural business and obtain income mainly fromthe Ministry of Public Security issued a regulation tosalaries, but are not recognized as urban residents, thusstrictly restrict migration from rural areas to urban areas,being transformed from peasants to peasant workers.making restriction on rural-urban migration attain its ex-The most serious obstacle for the second stage comestreme.from the invisible wall of household registration which isHowever, accompanied with the market-oriented eco-more difficult to go through. Although many peasantnomic reform started in the 1980s, it is not difcult anyworkers have gone through the visible wall of householdmore for peasants wanting to move into urban areas toregistration and have come into urban areas, they are stillcross the visible wall of household registration. In 1984,faced with a series of problems, which stand in the way for"The Announcement on Peasants' Migration to Towns"the peasant workers to be separated from peasants and be-issued by the State Council reduced the restriction on nu-come urban residents in real terms.ral-urban migration. In 1988, along with the liberalizationAmong a series of problems, the most prominent one isof the price of grain, oil and staple foodstuffs, and the can-the intersected dual urban-rural labor market. The dualcellation of food coupons and food cards system, whichlabor market is composed of a primary labor market and awas closely related to the household registration system,secondary labor market. The primary labor market isthe registered residence system has more and more limitedmainly constituted by urban residents with registered urbanimpact on rural-urban migration.residence, which supplies relatively higher income, moreBesides the gradual liberalization of the domicile man-favorable working condition and more stability; and theagement, the reason for the increasing expansion of r儿secondary labor market is mainly composed of peasantral-urban labor migration since the reform and opening upworkers with registered rural residence, which is charac-also lies in the following aspects:terized by lower income, unfavorable working environmentFirstly, the allocation of the responsibility of agriculturaland less stability. Most peasant workers, even though tidingproduction has supplied peasants with freedom of time andover the visible wall of household registration, will bechoice, serving as the premise for peasants' migration;forced to enter the secondary labor market, thus being OC-Secondly, the tension between people and land acts ascupied with jobs that most urban residents are not willingthe main force for migration;to do, and living at the bottom of the society. Few of themThirdly, the increased productivity of grain creates con-can enter the primary labor market.ditions for peasants to migrate;There are other factos preventing peasant workers fomFourthly, the renovation in distributional systems of ag-being real urban residents aside from the dual labor market.中国煤化工MYHCNMHG64 Chinese Jourmal of Popultion,n Resoures and Eovircameat 2008 Vol 6No.1For instance, from the perspective of their living root, mostof the two diferent forces: the pushing force from people'speasant workers regard working in urban areas as a tempo-original residential places and the pulling force from theirrary means to acquire wealth, and they have never cut theirdestinations. Migrants do comparisons between variousrelationships with the allocated cultivated farmland in ruralnegative factors of their original residential places whichareas, considering the rural areas and the farmland as theirpush them out and various positive factors of their destina-bottom line for subsistence; in terms of their way of living,tions which pull them in and make final decisions (Bogue,most peasant workers migrate for employment rather than1969). Although Bogue's theory can explain the reasons forconsumption, being satisfied with and consuming goodspeople to migrate in general, it remains insufficient at thejust for subsistence rather than enjoyment, and they aremicrocosmic level.always content with basic material goods rather than spini-2) Lewis's model of unlimited supply of surplus ruraltual enjoyment; from the perspective of their cultural con-laborers under duad economycepts, peasant workers, on the whole, resemble peasantsThis theory partitions the developing countries' eco-more than urban residents. It is difficult for them to departnomic sector into agricultural sector and industrial sector,thoroughly from rural areas due to their quality, workingand atributes economic development to the changes of thecondition and living environment. For the reasons above, iteconomic structure. It assumes that there are many surplushas a long way to go towards peasant workers' transforma-rural laborers in rural areas of developing countries, whosetion to urban residents.marginal productivity is merely zero, thus making wages in2.2 Limitations of subjects and classical theories of devel-agricultural sector rather low. In contrast, the wages ofopment economics in explaining the“Chinese path" ofindustrial sector are much higher due to the higher mar-ginal productivity of the industrial sector. It is the disparityrural-urban laborer migrationof wages that accelerates laborers' migration from ruralTraditionally, there are two subjects in economic devel-areas to urban areas (Lewis, 1954). In spite of its goodopment in terms of rural-urban labor migration: the ur-explanatory capacity for the first stage of the rural-urbanbanization of rural population and the deagriculturalizationlabor migration of the“Chinese path", namely, the peas-of surplus agricultural laborers. The two subjects addressedants' transformation to peasant workers, it does overlookrural population and agricultural laborers respectively, busome important factors, such as personal characteristics ofin most market economy countries, the process of urbani-peasants, thus leading to poor explanatory capacity tozation of rural population and that of deagriculturalizationunique phenomenon like “peasant-worker shortages"of surplus agricultural laborers actually have a simultan-emerging in rura-urban labor migration in China.eous and integral process. Moreover, when it comes to3) Todaro's expected income of migration theoryChina, just as stated before, on account of some historicalThis theory considers the decisions of surplus rural la-reasons, our nural-urban labor migration has represented aborers to migrate as a result of comparing the expectedunique“Chinese path", which has been split into twoincome in urban areas with the expense of migration. Onstages: from peasants to peasant workers, and 'from peasantthe one hand, migrants take the real income disparity be-workers to urban residents. Such a unique path has gener-tween urban areas and rural areas into consideration, whichated many differences in comparison with the process in. is the same as Lewis's theory; and on the other hand, theytraditional contexts for rural-urban labor migration; and atthink of probabilities for them to find jobs in urban areas,the current stage, in our coutry, in contrast to the smoothwhich is regarded as the specific contribution of Todaro'stransformation from peasants to peasant workers, thetheory. It has explained the ongoing rural-urban labor mi-transformation from peasant workers to urban residents isgration even in the cases of high unemployment rates instill faced with many obstacles, which therefore should beurban areas (Todaro, 1969). Todaro's theory has abstractlyprioritized. However, in this regard, traditional economicinvestigated the significant impact of employrment prob-development has a lot of limitations as follows.ability on rural-urban labor migration in general. However,1) The push-pull theory of Bogueconsidering the practical condition in China, the most sig-This theory atributes people's migration to the co effectnificant factors are profound in influencing employment中国煤化工Chinese Joumn.YHC N M H G2008Vol.6No.1 65and its equalization, which are not referred to in Todaro's to various factors, such as institutional system, market andtheory.personal factors, most of them have been marginalized4) Lee's determinants theory of rural-urban migrationsince they cannot go through the tougher invisible domicileIn 1966, Lee proposed in“A Theory of Migration”thatwall. The marginalization of their living state has beenthe factors influencing people's migration lay in four as- embodied in the following six aspects (Liu, 2004).pects: factors associated with the area(s) of origin; factors1) Marginalization of their employmentassociated with the area(s) of destination; intervening ob-The vast majority of peasant workers are occupied withstacles; and migrants' personal factors, which take effectsome informal posts in official or non-official departmentstogether and ultimately lead to nural-urban labor migration through the secondary labor market. They not only work(Lee, 966). Honestl, Le's satement does go futher than long hours in unfavorable environment with low paysthose before, but it does neither fully explain the factorswithout social security service, but also cannot even beinfuencing labor migration nor how these factors haveentitled to their basic rights sometimes.their impacts.2) Marginalization of their living areasAll the stated classical theories above on the rural-urbanAs foreign population, peasant workers' living areas arelabor migration of development economics, which arefeatured with prominent characteristics of marginalization.gradually improved and complementary to each other, doTaking factors such as house prices or rental charges, con-effectively explain the labor migration in most countries ofsumption level, culture and equality into consideration,market economy. However, they do not work well in ex-they always choose to live in slums in urban areas or inplaining our labor migration of the unique“Chinese path".interim regions between urban areas and suburbs, whereIn particular, none of these theories can sufficiently ac-the residents have similar experiences with them, thuscount for the“phenomenon of peasant workers" in China,avoiding the discriminatory mentality since it is relativelywhich is for peasant workers to flow into cities but noteasy for them to find common grounds. Such regions aresettle in. Therefore, we need to propose a“two-stage mi-always located in the marginal areas in urban areas; there-gration theory" focusing specifially on the rural-urbanfore, the living areas of peasant workers are marginalized.labor migration of“Chinese path". Furthermore, in view of3) The marginalization of their social statusthe smooth transformation at the first stage and the moreAtributing to their unstable jobs, lack of security ser-difficult transformation at the second stage, the priority ofour research should be given to the latter, namely, thevice, low income and poor educational background, peas-peasant workers' transformation to urban residents. It is theant workers living in urban areas are significantly inferiorsecond stage of peasant workers' transformation to urbanto those safeguarded by institutional system, namely, theresidents but by no means equals to the one that not onlynormal urban residents. And the social mechanism andrelates directly to the thorough transfer of rural laborer butspace for the peasant workers' upward flow are quite lim-also has great impacts on the construction of a harmoniousted. Besides, they have neither organizations such associety (Research on Laborer Transference and Peasants'peasant associations or trade unions for them to conveyTransformation in China Program Group, 2003).their requirements to relative departments on their behalffor their reasonable rights and interests, nor channels to3 Marg/nalization of the peasant workers lving in ur-participate in and discuss state affairs.4) Marginalization of their economic statusban areas and their transformatlon to urban residentsAfter entering urban areas, the peasant workers have3.1 Characteristics of the marginalization of the peasantreceived well improved economic status compared withtheir former one, but most of them, affected by factors ofworkers living in urban areasmarket and institutional systems, and personal factors, haveOn the whole, peasant workers are young, strong“grass been engaged in low-paid jobs. The majority of their poorroot elite" from rural areas with specific skills or spirit of income, apart from daily spending, is saved for their chil-adventure. However, after migrating into urban areas, due dren's education, their medical care, their pensions, and中国煤化工MYHCNMHG66 Cinese Joumal oPopultin, Resoures and Evironment 2008 Vol. 6No.1some other emergencies, leaving quite limited "spareregistration backgrounds, and the urban areas have alsomoney" for them, which leads to the marginalization of been made the front of rural-urban conflicts. Besides, thetheir economic status in urban areas.proposition of peasant workers’ transformation to urban5) Marginalization of their social mentalityresidents evolving from the concept of urbanization focus-Because of their relatively lower social and economicing exclusively on urban residents is meant to highlight thestatus, peasant workers universally lack confidence andhumanistic concem and the concept of the harmoniousself-respect. They thirst for respect, but they are left withsociety during the structural adjustment between nural andno choice other than endurance; they want to consumeurban areas.better stuf, but have to consume low-grade stuff for sub-sistence, being atrophic and marginalized mentally in terms3.2 Connotations of peasant workers' transformation toof consumption. Not safeguarded by the institutional sys-urban residentstems of the places they migrate to, having limited chancesFrom the perspective of inner transformation, peasantto participate in decision making process and not gettingworkers' transformation to urban residents has four conno-fair treatmnent, they always feel lonely and isolated; due totations, including: the transformation of vocation; ththeir low social status, it is hard for them to have the sensetransformation of social identity; the transformation ofof acquisition and belonging to the areas they settle in orquality and transformation of mentality. The transformationcompanies they work for, resulting in the lack of the masterof vocation means that peasant workers should be trans-consciousness. Social unfaimess may make some peasant formed ftom employees in the secondary and n-officialworkers have the mentality of fatalism, and much worse, itlabor market to non-agricultural workers in the primary andmay make others dissatisfied with the society or even tig-official labor market; the transformation of social identityger anti-social actities, posing potential hazards to socialmeans that they should be transformed from peasants tosability and security.urban residents; the transformation of quality means that6) Inheritance of their marginalizationthey should improve their quality and leam to recognizeThe marginalized social group, under the condition ofthemselves as urban residents; the transformation of men-low social status, low income, poor educational back-tality means they should be accustomed to live as urbanground and marginalized mentality, may pass their mar-residents both physically and mentally.inal characteristics on to their offspring, which has beenFrom the perspective of the process to transform peasantwitnessed by the education received by peasant workers'workers to urban residents, the transformational processchildren. As such a marginal characteristic being passed on has three stages, including: departing from rural areas;from generation to generation, a larger group of marginal-entering urban areas and being integrated into urban areas.ized people will be ultimately formed.At the stage of departing from rural areas, unremittinglyIt is the six marginal characteristics above, and their se-advancing the system and mechanism for cultivated landrious detriments to the harmonious society that makestransference and the system and mechanism for farmlandchanging peasant workers' marginalized living state as ourexpropriation is the only way to accelerate peasant work-top priority. Furthermore, from the practical perspective,ers' transformation to urban residents. At the stage of en-advancing peasant workers' transformation to urban resi- tering urban areas, the transition of the dual householddents needs eliminating their marginalized living state,registration system and the dual employment system dif-which should be a significant implication in peasant work-ferentiating rural and urban registered residents should beers' transformation to urban residents.advanced on the ground with the investment to and theAt the same time, we should not overlook the fact thataggregate of the human and social capital for peasantpeasant workers' migrating to urban areas and their mar-workers being simultaneously increased (Liu and Zhou,ginalized state have made the urban-rural relationship2004). At the same time, we should also make endeavor inshifted and condensed to a kind of confrontation withinthe housing projects for peasant workers, which are alsourban territories between people with different household main contributors to peasant workers' transformation to中国煤化工Chinese JourMYHCN M H 2008Val.6No.1 67urban residents. At the stage of peasant workers' integra-have introduced the concept of the combination of will andtion into urban areas, socializing the subsistence securitycapability. That is to say, at each stage, we highlight thesystem for them and assisting them to live as urban resi-joint effect between peasant workers' will and their capa-dents are indispensable for peasant workers, too.bility. In line with these characteristics, those peasantworkers who can be transformed to urban residents must4 Analysis on the process of peasant workers' trans-have both the will to settle in urban areas and the capabilityformation to urban residents and the factors influencingto live there, both of which are indispensable. From thisthe processpoint, the focus of pecasant workers' transformation to ur-ban residents is concentrated on those with both the willTo conduct research on peasant workers' transformationand capability to settle in and be integrated into urban ar-to urban residents more scientifically and accurately, thuseas.proposing efective policies for advancing this process andIf H is labeled as the index to indicate the degree forthe construction of a harmonious society, we need to beginpeasant workers' transformation; A is labeled as the exter-with measurements on the transformational process. Asal institutional factors; I is labeled as the will to be trans-stated above, the entire transformational activity (PA) of fomed to urban residents; c is labeled as the capabilit;peasant workers is composed of three stages, namely, de-then their correlation can be represented asparting from rural areas, entering into urban areas and be-H=f(A,1,C)ing integrated into urban areas, with each stage comprisingAnd, according to Cobb-Douglas function, H can beseveral sub-stages. The degree of peasant workers' trans-formation to urban residents can be represented as the pro-given by the following equationportion of stages during which peasant workers have beenH=AI"C,A>0,0<1<1,0 0, which ilustrates that the extemal institutional fac-they are, the more receptive they are to new things, thetors do pose block to peasant workers' transformation, then easier for them to be self-approval, and the more inclined0 0, magnifying the index.become urban residents. Theoretically, the more educationHowever, in accordance with the case study carried outthey receive, the more money they can earn. However,by Cai (2003), only 24% of the salary disparity betweenbased on the fact that most peasant workers are in the sec-peasantworkers and the native urban laborers can be ac-ondary labor market and cannot enjoy the interests broughtcounted for by personal reasons, leaving the remainingabout by high educational degrees. In many cases, educa-76% accounted for by discrimination. Thereforetional degrees have not had considerable impacts on in-A=e76%= 0.4677.come. For this reason, to get a simplfed index system, weThis study has also proved that the existing institutionalHave omitted educational degrees and introduced the nativesystem does stand in the way in the peasant workers'urban residents' jincome levels for comparison, so the ca-transformation to urban residents.The inclination for peasant workers to be transformed topability of peasant workers to become urban residents,namely, C, can be given by the following equationurban residents.c = the income level of peasant workers living in urbanWe can set I as an indicator to measure the inclinationareas/that of the native urban residents in the same period.for peasant workers to be transformed to urban residents,IfC≥I, we assume C= 1, so the value ranges ofC are inwhose value ranges in [0, 1]. The higher the value, the[0, l]. The larger the value is, the narrower the income gapmore inclined for peasant workers to be transformed. In thewill be between peasant workers and the original urbanvalue range, the value 0 represents that peasant workers areresidents, thus indicating the higher capability of peasantnot interested in becoming urban residents at all, and theworkers to become urban residents. The value 1 indicatesvalue 1 demonstrates a full inclination for peasant workersthat peasant workers are the sathe with the native urbanto be urban residents. However, in reality, most peasant residents in terms of income. Acording to the data of theworkers' inclination swings as pendulum from being peas-above survey, the average income of the entire peas-ants to being urban residents. Table 1 has shown the statis- ant-worker group is 722.59 yuan RMB, 54.29% of that oftical result of a questionnaire survey on the inclination forthe native urban residents in Wuhan in the same period,peasant workers to become urban residents to the peasant namely, 1330.92 yuan RMB, indicating peasant workers'workers in Wuhan.capability to be urban residents being half of that of theTable 2 represents the result of bibliometric analysis native urban residents.based on the survey data above and aims at the incinationThe index indicating the capability of peasant workersfor peasant workers to become urban residents.to be urban residents in the samples (H) can be drawn asFrom the above analysis on the inclination for peasantlong as we introduce the analytical results into C-D func-workers to become urban residents in Wuhan, the conclu- tion: H = 25.90%。If eliminating the impact ofA,H =sion can be drawn that the age is the most significant factor54.38%. The result of the measurement on the process ofinfluencing peasant workers' inclination to be urban resi- peasant workers' transformation has shown that peasantdents, their inclination of belongingness in the future andworkers are“half-urban residents” between peasants andtheir self-definition for their social identities. The younger urban residents.中国煤化工Chinese JouMYHCNMH2000..069Table1 A survey to the peasant workers in Wuhan on their inclination to become urban residents (March, 2005)ItemsDefinitely yesYesNot sureNoDefinitely DOWish to leave rural areas and become urban residents54.5%32.2%13.3%Whether to recognize peasant workers as urtban residents47.02%27.45%25.54%Whether to stay in urban areas to make a living in the future28.29%8.19%4.96%39.70% .18.86%Table2 Analysis on the inclination for peasant workers in Wuhan to become urban residentsIndependentInclination of belong-Self-judgments on socialInclination to become urban residents_variablesingness in the futureidentityIndividual characteristics:Gender (male = 1, female - 0)0.566-0.219)***-0.014(-0.178)***-0.361<-0.264)>**-0.199!!ge-0.038-0.347)**-0.019(- 0.339)**-0.38111Economic characteristics:0.000(0.115)中0.026.114)**0.204!!educational level0.000(.123)**0.0590.069receiving training program (yes0.049-1, no=0)-0.321( -.199)**unemployed (yes= 1, no=0)Mariage:-0.327!!maried (yes= 1, no= 0)0.352!!spouse works in the same city(yes= 1,n0- 0)Adaptive degree to city:0.020aggregated times of being em-0.101 !ployedmonths of living in urban areas0.1830.0660.232F value24.258**中11.520***24.461***MethodStepwiseStepwise multi-regressionPearson corre-multi-regressionlation analysis .Note: 1)p < 0.05, *p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001; outside the parentheses are the estimated values of the un-standardized cofcients, inside the parentheses are standardized cofficients.2) !! represents that coefficients at the level of 0.01 has the significant difterence (two-tailed test); while I represents that coficients at thelevel of0.05 has the sgificant difrence (wo-ailed test).5 Accelerating the peasant workers' transformation toFor advancing the construction of the harmonious soci-urban residents for supporting the construction of aety, problems related to millions of peasant workers cannothammonious societybe slid over, whose fundamental resolution lies in the ac-celeration of peasant workers' transformation to urbanConstructing the socialist harmonious society is the keyresidents. The case study on the process of peasant worktask proposed by the central govermment from the perspec-ers' transformation to urban residents reveals that the ma-tive of building up a well-off society in an all round wayjority of peasant workers are still “half-utban residents",and serving the new situation for the cause of socialismwho cannot virtually settle in and be integrated into urbanwith the Chinese characteristics, which meets the objectiveareas though they can be employed there. Due to the ex-requirements of our reform and development in criticaltemal institutional constraints, plus the deficiencies instages and embodies the fundamental interests and thepeasant workers' quality, many quarters of peasant workerscommon wishes of the most general people. The hammoni-are swinging mentally in terms of becoming urban resi-ous society we are devoted to building is a society em-dents. Based on our investigation and research, 34.40% ofbodying democracy and legality, faimness and justice, hon-the peasant workers are in hesitation regarding whether toesty and friendship, vigor and security, maintenance 。go back to rural areas or keep staying in urban areas. Hence,social order and concord between the nature and man.the improvements of institutional systems are cried for to中国煤化工MYHCNMHGassist their smooth transformation to urban residents.Wiley and Sons, IncIn response to such a situation, the reform of the house-Cai F, Du Y, Wang M Y, 2003. The Political Economy Analysis onhold registration system, the land transference system, andLabor Flow. Shanghai: Shanghai Sanliane Bookstore, Peo-the social security system should be promoted to create aple's Press of Shanghainore favorable macroeconomic environment for peasantLee E, 1966. A theory of migration. Demography, 3(1):47-57workers to become urban residents by giving them moreLewis W A, 1954. Economic development with unlimited supplychoices and simutaneously intensifying the vocationalof labour. The Manchester School of Economic and Socialtraining programs for them ,which can give them an edge inStudies, 47(3), 139-191the fierce competition in the market, thus realizing theitLiu C JI, 2004. The marginalization of peasant workers and theirtransformation in vocation, social identity, quality and men-transformation to urban residents. Population and Familytality, to boost our construction of a harmonious society.Planning, (1):44 47Liu C J and Zhou J L, 2004. Social capital and the urban integra-Acknowledgements This paper is subsidized by the MOE NCETtion of peasant workers. Population Rcsearch, (5);: 12-18(New Century Excellent Talent) Project, The Research on China'sResearch on Laborer Transference and Peasants' TransformationPeasant Worker's Citizenization in New Century (Approval Number.in China Program Group, 2003. Trend of peasants' transfor-NCET-04-0672).mation to urban residents and opinion of relevant domestictheories. Information of Economic Research, 5ReferencesTodaro M P, 1969. A model of labor migration and urban under-employment in less developed countries. The American Eco-Bogue D 1, 1969. Principles of Demography. New York: Johmnnomic Review, 59: 138-148中国煤化工Chinese JourMYHCN M H G2008 vl.6No.1 71