Focus China. An Introduction

Rural to urban migration is one of the most striking social, demographic and economic phenomena in China today and its scope has aroused the concern of the central authorities as well as widespread discussion among the general public. The plight of internal migrants has also attracted increasing attention of scholars both within and outside China, generating a rich academic literature. This article reviews the literature on China's rural-urban migration with a focus on the gender specific aspects of migration, thus introducing the readers to the complexity of the topics covered in this special issue (i.e. welfare, cultural representation, social activism and prostitution, and also State policies and legal responses).