Opportunities and challenges of development induced migration: evidence from post-reform China

Malini L Tantri, Institute for Social and Economic Change

In a radical change in the policy priorities, China initiated economic reforms in 1979. The early attempts toward this begin with experimenting seed of capitalism in a selective region of the country through its special policy known as ‘Special Economic Zone’. These zones unambiguously fueled the accelerating the pace of economic development of the country, particularly through trade openness. Nevertheless, these Zones in the process generated certain challenges. One such challenge is development-induced migration. Taking Shenzhen SEZ as example, in this paper, we analyze the opportunities and challenges of development-induced migration in China. To explore this, study has employed secondary data covering the period from 1980 to 2005. Meanwhile, primary information collected during author’s extended fieldwork in China are used. The findings overwhelmingly records high volume of migration fueled by multiple factors and development challenges experienced due to higher migration to Shenzen SEZ will be focused upon.