Main description

In China, where one is born can have a huge impact on opportunities for social mobility. The so called hukou-system defines a person’s status either as rural or urban inhabitant. The system was originally intended to monitor and control the mechanisms of population migration but now it practically impedes equal opportunity. However, recent decades saw an ever-growing number of people moving from China’s countryside to bigger cities and an increasing percentage of these migrants are highly educated. Kimiko Suda’s newly published book “Das Phänomen «Yizu»” provides an in-depth analysis of urban transformation processes, social stratification, and social mobility with focus on the life prospects of migrant graduates from China’s rural areas.