Today it is my distinct pleasure to be able to introduce Professor Biao Xiang and to once
again virtually welcome him to Cornell University. When I began planning this lecture series on China
and Migration, he was at the very top of my list for reasons that I'll get into in just a moment.
Professor Xiang is Professor of Social Anthropology at Oxford University, and he has
a new, relatively new appointment at the Max Planck Institute where he's heading a new
department there on the anthropology of economic experimentation. And he's actually joining us
today from Germany. Professor Xiang is one of the pre-eminent scholars of Chinese migration both
domestically and internationally. Perhaps "the" preeminent scholar, and but it's not just China.
He is a scholar of migration in general, and his work is widely respected by migration scholars,
people working on areas all over the world. He's done research not just in China, making his mark
looking a sort of internal migration within China, then looking at the international Chinese diaspora
but he's also done research in India and other countries as well. I can't possibly list all of
his many important publications. He's written numerous books, countless articles. They've
been translated into all kinds of articles. You know any student of migration is really
going to have to reckon with his work at some point. And so I'm extremely excited to
be able to invite him here today to present some of his new work on reproductive labor.
So I'm just going to leave it at that. I'm going to and now I will turn it over to Professor Xiang.
Okay thank you very much Eli. First of thanks the program, thanks Amala for organizing setting up
this seminar, and I would like to say big thanks to Eli for at least three reasons.
Number one for inviting me here. Number two, he just told me that he likes the title, the a
term that I'm using today: reproduction migration. And as I just told him, he is the first person who
gave me positive in the positive feedback on this (unintelligible). Because I discussed this concept
in a few other places, and people say, oh it's interesting but still confusing and misleading. Um
so the encouragement from him is very important for me at this is point of work. You know you're
still exploring you'll get confused by yourself. And thirdly; when I mentioned to Eli that I wish
to talk about reproduction migration, and in order to address one particular empirical puzzle
which is why Chinese citizens continue leaving China, exiting China when China is becoming the
global economic center. China is a place where money is being made. Why people are
keeping leaving? And he immediately reminded me, oh you should again look at the Saskia Sassen's 1986
book "The Mobility of Capital and Labor" because Saskia Sassen asked the very similar question at
that time 1980s. Namely, there's two questions for her. Number one: why the increasing number
of migrants coming to the U.S. at that time were from countries like such countries as South Korea,
Malaysia, Thailand, and a number of Latin American countries where they were going
through quite a rapid industrialization where the living standards were increasing.
Number two puzzle: why did they come to the U.S. when U.S. was going through an unemployment
crisis. There were no jobs you know, I mean if you look at the statistics, it's not good time.
U.S. was going through de-industrialization, so why do you have people
moving from industrializing nations into de-industrializing places?
That was Saskia Sassen's question and I didn't I didn't think of that before. It was Eli who
reminded me of the book and then I went back to rethink about that. I mean I read the book many
years ago but I never made the connection between the book and what I'm thinking now.
Then, and now I have a framework I mean at least the initial framework, thanks for Eli's reference
to Saskia Sassen. Now that our question is similar to what the Saskia Sassen asked as I mentioned,
and but the answer is quite different. Saskia Sassen's answer to the 1980s puzzle
was the internationalization of production. She's, I mean she made a few interesting points.
Number one: she said, okay you know when now you look at the migration, you should not
consider migration as a process where people move from one country where there's no
jobs to a place that has more jobs to offer. No. You have to look at the global system as a whole.
You have the internationalization of production, which means there's a rapid capital movement
from the core - the west into these countries like South Korea, Malaysia,
Thailand, Singapore, and Latin America like Mexico and etc. Right, the arrival of capital of course
uh encouraged industrialization, and encouraged the economic growth, but at the same time
the foreign investment also disrupted the traditional livelihoods. So therefore
it creates large-scale displacement of workers. So you have large-scale displacement
workers especially men at the same time as economic development, and this displaced men have
to go somewhere so therefore they become potential migrants. That hypothesis is not a very well
approved. But anyways that there was an interesting hypothesis right. This is a number one
uh answer. And then she says okay um then why does it why do migrants are coming to the U.S.?
Despite of deindustrialization, and she says again you should look at the internationalization of
production. Internationalization of production, I mean in today's language
we will call the globalization requires certain strategic hub in the world as a commanding site
which will coordinate all the flows of capital, flow of goods, and the flow of information.
And these commanding sites are what she called global cities.
Mainly it's New York, Los Angeles, and of course Tokyo and London. I mean this is a major global
cities so global cities are just not simply big cities, international cities but global
cities as a strategic site where globalization project is being designed, monitored, and shaped.
In these global cities you need new people. Who are the new people? Two types. Type one:
high-end finance analysts, I.T. professionals, which subject I also worked on before. And we
look at that Indian I.T. programmers going to Australia and the U.S.. Why do they need I.T.?
It's not simply you know a lineal or incremental technological upgrading. I.T. is needed as a
global infrastructure to facilitate new mode of capital circulation, so therefore the need of I.T.
as Eli mentioned is especially uneven in certain places. You will need more than other places.
There's a high end, and the same time, Saskia Sassen said
in global cities you also have increasing demand for informal low-end laborers: cleaners, cooks,
sex workers to provide the service for this high-fly elite: this finance analysts and etc.
So this both of them actually uh are in a short supply, so therefore need migrant workers from
the rising global South. So that was her answer, and the first hypothesis you know the displacement
hypothesis, actually is I think still remain to be tested but the second hypothesis is about the
global city thesis we know, it is well accepted. And then what's the situation in China today? I
mean why do Chinese people are leaving China when China is not only simply industrializing
but China has become a global hub for financial speculation for wealth, for strategic wealth
accumulation. So my answer is it's no longer internationalization of production. I mean
if we go to detail actually can make interesting comparison because the internationalization of
production material production uh did not encourage outer migration. The globalization
of production actually you create many more jobs in China. I mean China you don't
see massive kind of this economic displacement, of course you see large-scale of rural, urban migrants.
There's a social displacement but primarily it's a story of economic employment generation,
so that is did not encourage outer migration. The reason, the driving force
behind of outer migration now is what I call the internationalization of reproduction strategies.
What is a reproduction? I mean, let's go back to the very simple definition by Engels
and Marx. Marx didn't say much too much about it. It's basically the maintenance and
of of human life right. Workers you have to go home to eat and sleep in order to have
energy refueled and for tomorrow's work, and then in order to do that you have you need someone
cook for the workers, you need someone to clean the house, and of course you need having second
generation to be born and etc. So you this the whole social process of uh that sustain
uh the production of labor sustains a production system, what which we call a social reproduction.
So we maintain our life at the both individual level as well as intergenerational level,
social reproduction. And what do I mean the internationalization of reproduction?
If you look at who are leaving China today, I mean the fastest growing number of migrants from China
number one, students of course, this is well-known especially in campus like Cornell. You know China
is a world number one standing country of international students. Let me try and now
also attract some foreign students. But most of the students go into China for short-term
exchange programs, not for degree, so it's less serious in some words. And then number two
fastest growing migrants from China are so-called investor migrants right? We know in U.S. you have
this EB-5 I think visa. At a certain year to I think 2017 is more than 80 percent of the EB-5
visas um were issued to PRC applicants, and the similar situation were observed in Canada,
Australia. Although these countries now became quite cautious or even closed down
these program mainly because there's a concern about having too many Chinese
wealthy Chinese accounts so there's a social backlash there. But the same time we witnessed
a lot. I mean not too large but quite a few, quite a few small countries especially in Europe but
also in Latin America opened up these schemes. The most famous examples including Portugal, Malta and
Hungary. So this is quite unlikely, and grace, and very unlikely designations you know in the
traditional migration flows. But now they became quite popular destinations because they have this
investment migration scheme, according to which, as long as you invest a certain amount of money,
so you can get a green card. But what kind of investments are the Chinese investor migrants
make? Properties. There's a very few cases where they invest money to in productive activities to
hire people and etc. But the main investments they make is by the family house, family properties.
So then also there's a small number of labor migration,
and I want to make argument that the labor migration after 2000,
according to my field work in Northeast China is also becoming increasingly reproduction driven,
meaning that they migrate is not only just to earn money and go home to make investment you know,
in order to become rich. But they migrate often the direct pressure of getting married,
buying a property, and they are related - if you don't buy a property in cities, a country
boy even can't find a country girl, if both families are now in the rural China. But in
order for them to get married, the young men are expected to have a property in the country seat
and the requirement is quite hard, quite high. It's not only a property in the county seat
but there must be a particular location, and a condominium must have certain facilities, and etc.
So it's a tremendous pressure uh in the domain of reproduction, you know you have a
family house you get married, and of course education cost, and the medical care cost.
I mean there's a very complex reason behind that why is the cost increasing so high. So
in the early in the 1990s the people migrate to earn money, and then they go back
to buy houses, so the the price of houses goes up, so people blame migrants. But in the recent years,
people don't blame migrants for you know sending back remittances, and therefore
raising the property prices because now the picture is opposite. It's the property prices
keep rising driven by domestic political economy, land policy, and urban growth, and etc. And
therefore; it pushed many young people to migrate in order to make quick savings. I mean the wage
overseas not necessarily higher than China, but by going overseas you can save money more quickly,
partly because you work much longer hours, and you don't have a socialization.
And when you go overseas, you basically work seven days a week, at least 10 hours a day,
so you can make a saving quicker, and then you can buy an apartment before the price become
unaffordable, and then you can secure a marriage and etc. And also see more and more people
migrate because of the education fee. Um so, so that's probably yeah we can come back this
later because people can say okay you know labor migration are always migrating for reproductive
concern. You know they send the money back to build a house or to pay medical costs,
but the picture here is slightly different. It's not that they are going out to earn
supplemental incomes for reproductive purposes, but actually the main driving force is that
the the obligation, the pressure to meet such reproductive duties are so high,
so they just have to to to go. So they become a so that's driven by by reproduction concern
concerns. But that is a really minor case in my story. So what I really want to focus on
is students migrants and investor migrants as a main case of this reproduction uh migration.
Then as I just mentioned now you know most people say, it's very confusing,
why do you call that the reproduction migration. So here today I need your help, and I uh just
I wanted to try to justify a bit why I use this term and you can tell me whether or not it works.
First of all, why do we use such a broad category: reproduction? You know why don't we just do
educational migration or call it lifestyle migration or consumption migration right,
which sounds uh somehow is empirically more self-evident kind of uh easier to understand.
But reproduction for me is a very important category. It is true, it's quite, it's a kind
of abstraction. It is not empirically self-evident but nevertheless; it is a necessary and important
abstraction. This again go back to Engels and Marx. Especially Engels, you know the origin of
family private property and the state. What do humans do in this world? The humans do two things.
Number one: human produces things. To uh of in the food and the clothes actually
etc., produce things in order to survive. Number two: human must reproduce a human as a species.
The first part of production actually marks, I mean I'll talk
and develop such a sophisticated theory to talk about how production is socially organized
different ways, how you organize production have very different consequences and etc.
But I think actual reproduction is even more complex than that. If you look at the
reproduction just as a biological fact, there's no big difference between human and any mammals.
But the problem of course is the social aspect of reproduction. How this biological production
is a programmed, organized socially? Marriage system, kinship, family, inheritance,
and then your identity, and the community right. And then you have welfare system, the state,
and the public education, private education, all the debates, health care which is really
dominating our concerns in in contemporary society is primarily is much more about the reproduction
than about the production. I mean for if you ask ordinary people what they're really worried about.
I mean of course they are taught now by economists says, oh and the most important thing is economy.
You have to look at employment data. This is quite the case in China if you go to people.
"Educated" the people will talk like that. You know you look at the economy, look at what trade,
look at what the U.S. do. But if you talk to the less educated people who are much wiser,
who tell you the truth in a much more economical way. It is a primary about the reproduction.
Why education becomes so expensive, so tiring, pension.
Why is it difficult to see a doctor and expensive to see a doctor "kan
bing nan" (hard to see a doctor) and "kan bing gui" (expensive to see a doctor)
etc. So the social, I mean what I want to say is that the reproduction is in a way very simple
right. We just keep life going, and then keep having second generation, keep them alive. But
there's a specific way, how it is socially organized is a very a change dramatically
uh over the last 200 years uh globally, but mostly I think in the last 100 years.
You know we know it is in Europe. It is probably in Germany here, uh
Bismarck and then you have poor law, and of course primarily after WWII,
you have the social reproduction uh became a political agenda. And then how I mean that is
I think is is a very important domain right for to to for us to examine various social issues.
So therefore I use the term reproduction migration as opposed to reproductive migration. I mean
reproductive, the word sounds quite descriptive, and something like is to really emphasize
particular function of migration. I mean the you know students migration, investment migration,
not necessarily reproductive and reproductive whatever I don't know, but they belong to the
category the domain of reproduction right. So that is similar to I mean the usage of terms
by Marx. You know it's a about the production force instead of productive force. And lots of
production force are not necessarily productive but productive how to measure it. It's it is,
it is a more functional description rather than analytical category.
Uh I mean the productive or reproductive is is a is a function is it to describe the function,
rather than analysis about its position in the organization of the society and the economy.
So this is is a why I think okay reproduction uh migration uh, in by having this big categories,
it is uh is meaningful, and probably it is a time to bring back some big uh categories like that.
And as a second is a reason, I think I mean second reason why reproduction migration. Sorry mate.
Why reproduction migration can be confusing is precisely because reproduction, I mean when
people start talking about the social reproduction seriously in the 1960s. It was very much about the
discovery of a women's contribution to capitalist system. It's a rediscovery of the household
in the capitalist system. And people ask okay you because all the political economies talking about
politics in the factory, talking about the labor exploitation in the production site, but how can
this labor being exploited, had not someone else produced this labor on daily basis in the first
place as well as in the generational basis. Of course the mothers and the wives' inputs are
extremely important. So the suppression of women is not only about ideational, and gender, sex,
politics, but it's really about this public and the private divide. It's about the production
and the reproduction divide. So the discovery of reproduction is very much about the rediscovery
of the so-called private sphere, and its political and economic functions to the whole system right.
I mean so the feminist argument you know, whether or not these heteronormative families at least
among the working class is inevitable. The answer is no. It's not inevitable. This is a particular
way how social reproduction is organized, the heteronormative families right uh. So that's
the then this at least the generator impression that a reproduction is something whole;
is something rooted; is something that actually less mobile. Labor is a mobile,
and a reproduction is not mobile, which is very true for a long history. What is a
typical image of a labor migrant? Of course its a man, leaving home for the cities to work and
the center remittances back in the countryside where the wives, children, and the elderly stay.
Home in the countryside is where reproduction takes place, and the city's factories are where
productive activities take place right. So therefore the mobile part is even made. Uh
so the main theoretical discussion was about that since 1960s, 1970s. But today the situation
changed greatly. A very typical image, uh actually was very nicely provided by the anthropologist
Aihwa Ong. She was talking about the different cases more about Hong Kong
and Taiwan middle class families migrating to Canada since the 1980s.
Who are the late who are the migrants on the paper? The migrants, yes are the men, you know
head of head of household migrating to Canada from Hong Kong or Taiwan. Who are actually migrating?
The wives and the children, sometimes their parents as well. They go to Canada because life is
much easier; the grass is greener; the egg is much better quality; and of course education is better.
So who are staying home? The man. The man stays in Hong Kong, Taiwan was now China. Why? Because this
is where the money is made. China is a center of capital accumulation. The west is a site of
reproduction. This is just one aspect, then you have other aspects in the reproduction, social
production we know is no longer confined at a private home at all. So that is the discussion
in China after reform whether or not reproduction, social reproduction is privatized. The picture is
fuzzy. On one hand you can see it is privatized because the state withdraw. You know the factories
will not provide any kindergartens. You know the nursing and education are supposed to be taken up
by families. So therefore lots of women workers were laid off and etc. But at the same time,
are they really privatized? No. We see dramatic expansion of the market
that meet this production need right? And the tuition, the private school etc. - in Northeast
China countryside, a new phenomenon that observed. I was surprised.
It is common now in countryside that no matter how poor it is, it is common to send the preschool
children to kindergarten in the county seat cities. Countryside kids go to kindergarten. This
is a is a quite surprising to me. So of course these have all kind of consequences. We knew
that in countryside in a child of course, before five, they are child, after five they are defect
to child labor. You know they do all kinds of household chores and etc. This is a part
of family system, I mean we can make a certain moral argument about labor child labor and etc.
This again is a complex story, but now it's very clear that they are of course not child labor.
They have become a major consumption item.
In in in Chilean province private kingdom. I mean there's no public kindergarten in county seat that
can take ordinary peasants' children. There's only one or two public kindergartens which are
all taking, I mean all the seats are taken by the cadres already, so the rest of private is about
1000 yuan tuition fee a month. Huge cash burden, huge cash burden. We know how much cash peasants
earn a year. Peasants can have certain wealth and if you count those ordinary (unintelligible) etc.
But the how much cash they can get at the end of the year. But this one, this kindergarten alone,
every month money go cash 1000 (yuan) goes out straight away. So that type of pressure related to
reproduction is very high. Uh so here I'm talking about you know it's not purely privatized. Uh you
know by taking up by family, so you have women go home, and women become housewives again.
That there was debate in 1980s. But now we what we witnessed actually a much more powerful
trend is really the monetization or marketization of reproduction. So the the this is the second
big point I want to raise here to justify why I want to use the term reproduction migration.
The second point is that reproduction, the way the specific way, how reproduction is organized
changed greatly. And this on one hand make it looks quite odd to have reproduction migration
because the reproduction is supposed to be tied ahold. Why do you migrate? In order to reproduce.
But this is precisely, I think it's interesting. You know you have now a internationalized
strategy of reproduction. You send kids overseas for education. You wanted to uh of course I mean
for security of assets etc. overseas, and there is their kind of plan as well in heritance.
Uh you have you have want to have a better air, and the better I mean safer food and etc. That's
that's uh I think is uh so you look if we think of that way, it may open up some new space or
raise new questions for thinking of the political economy of China or China's relation to the world.
And then people say, what is about, what about consumption migration or lifestyle
migration. I think they are all specific cases of reproduction migration. But these
concepts are not very satisfactory for me because consumption itself is a very specific, I would
say ideological representation of reproduction. And why do you call reproduction consumption?
Reproduction is what life is about. I mean we're a human being, we come here, we want to keep our
life. Why do you call this education, medical care as item consumption? This is not a neutral
description, and it is ideologically loaded, and also it's empirically analytically confusing
right. I mean why is it that you want to go somewhere to have a better air,
of course you pay money to do that? Why is that? Is that a consumption? Or it is actually a way
to create a new exclusion? And is you know you have different you can have a different way to
analyze, to describe that. Uh so there's a lot of you know some some terms seemingly self-evident
but actually is or can be confusing right? Uh so that's uh why I want to use the term reproduction
migration. Um is to wanted to to to to to see how this migration, reproduction migration, sorry, how
this type of migration is telling us about some larger changes in the global economy. One
hypothesis arising from here is that whether or not China is
becoming a global center. Probably it's not. It is a global center for material production. But
is not a global center for human reproduction. So the west is the center of reproduction.
Then if we do a political economy analysis, you know okay who is earning more money and what is
a source of value. Probably reproduction is a much more important source of profit than
material production. So whether or not we should rethink the world economy
in now in terms of reproduction activities instead of material production. So that is
a is a one question now in the second half of my (talk). I was advised that to have a break to keep
you awake, but I will just carry on to see if you feel uh dozy away. That's uh that's a fine too.
Yeah I then I hope to finish the whole talk earlier, then we have more discussion. The second
part I just go back to history. I understand that this whole series empire of migrants
started with a history probably will end with some historical review and a comparison. I want to
look at the history of how should we locate this stream of reproduction migrations, that emerged in
mainly in 1990s. Actually I would say they immerged from 1980s, maybe a little controversial
in the long history. I divided China's migration, global migration into four stages.
In each stages, there is a particular relation between mobility and the capital accumulation.
Stage 1: 1840 to 1950. So you know the force to open up - Opium war, large wave of
indentured labor to Southeast Asia, Latin America and North America as well,
that was primarily my outer migration driven by European capital expansion.
Here's a term I use here. I mean this is not my term but used by historian as well -
expansion. Expansion as opposed to accumulation. Expansion is related to colonialism:
you go to new space. It is not your accumulating like a classical capitalist system in the Marxist
picture. But you you just go a new place right through extractive economy, plantation, and etc.
So the stage one is labor out of migration driven by European capital expansion. Stage two.
Uh from uh from sorry I said the four stage actually it's three stages. Stage two
is from 1950 to 1980 right, Cold War time. Two things happened. Number one,
China basically stopped outer migration. Actually they also stopped the internal migration except
this you know Up to Mountains Down to Village Movements and etc. The internal migration
as well as international migration stopped. This is one thing during that Cold War period.
Second things are quite important too. It was during the Cold War period that
we witnessed the establishment of international labor migration system,
including the migration of labors from South Asia. First of all, to Europe as well to the
Middle East, immediately after WWII. And then the so-called guest worker program. And then you have
migration from South Asia as well as Korea to the Middle East because it's uh all your boom.
And then you have um in the 1980s um sorry 1960s. Uh U.S. opened up and gave up the
country quota system. You have Asian migration - large number from India going to North America,
of course Australia as well. So you have this international and then this leads towards Saskia
Sassen described in 1980s migration from Southeast Asia to the U.S. tied to the movement of capital.
So you have the establishment of the international labor migration system. I want to say these two
things are probably related. Inability in China and the international mobility
led by the west, they are related. They are related in the sense, it is precisely because
China was cast out from the global system, so the small states especially those surrounding
China. Southeast Asia were actively encouraged and also incorporated into the global system,
economic system which was clearly dominated by the U.S. at that time.
So that is a controversial explanation, but for me it's interesting explanation for the
Asian uh dragons and the tigers. They become dragon and tigers because of China was outside
of the system. So the west needs, I mean it's part of the geopolitical in circle uh strategy.
But it's part also because economic force in play you know. They need these small markets
when the large market is left out. It is this they are also related, the immobility in China and
the international mobility also integrating the sense that both development strategies. In both
spheres, places, accumulation were taking place. Of course in China, (it) is accumulation via
immobility through command economy and etc. But in the west is accumulation through mobility of
capital, and through mobility of labor, and the so-called the new international division
of labor, also internationalization production in Saskia Sassen's term. Suppose accumulation
and that seems important to me because this explains, how explains, why there is a rise of
reproduction migration from China, and why. This is a minor point but important for my argument.
It's why do I think that a reproduction migration from China started almost from the very beginning,
the end of the 1970s with China-U.S. bilateral agreement about educational uh
migration. The accumulation was done in China. So this means when China opened up,
so-called China joined the sea world system. China did not simply joined the system, the pre uh
given and established system. Actually China joined in a new way, new form.
They did not enjoy not sorry not to join uh just by following the logic of accumulation.
They join to a great extent actually through a logic what I call the conversion.
The wealth capital has always been accumulating in China, and the migration is a way to convert
what has been accumulated in China into something else, and there is a change here.
How the conversion is taking place, and then what is being converted to changed
over the last 30, 40 years. I mean that is very clear if you look at education
migration. You know international students. There are four generations, and we can
uh talk about uh uh later. And also of course investor migrants did not exist until uh I think
I mean the category did not exist until the late 1990s and the China became a bigger player is only
in 2010s, over the last 10 years or so. So that that that has has has uh uh there is a nuance
to change there but I want to say that is - if you look at the migration user the term, reproduction
migration in a broader sense. Probably we can say in the nineteenth you know end of 1970s,
when China resumed external links, and especially from 1986, when China allowed citizens to apply
for private passports. You can say the migration is to different ways, always reproduction
migration, and but now it is became more and more uh obvious right. I mean probably I just um to to
finish my presentation today. I just give one example actually relate to myself.
When I go overseas to study. I mean you know consider four generations of students
migrants from PRC. Generation one is above me, sent by the government scholarship. They
are supposed to return to China but hardly any returned. And then they went overseas
thinking okay the west of course is the future. There's a it's uh science is more advanced and
also the political system is more advanced. We should learn from them. It's quite liberally
oriented. And then my generation is not sent by the government, is often went overseas as
post-graduate students: own scholarships provided by foreign universities, driven by the desire
for better science science, and also for better personal life. It is quite individualized already.
Third generation below us became younger, not post-graduate students only, and more and more
undergraduate students and financed by family, and go overseas for symbolic values. To have a
better degree, to have better jobs. So no much faith in you know better science or better
system. And then you have, you can say it's very instrumentalized by the third generation. And now
the fourth generation - they go overseas, very young of course you know we know there is so
called the burst tourism right phenomenon. And people now is becoming tightened the regulation
became very tightened. They go to the U.S. to give birth and etc. As young as before the the the
baby is born, they started migrating already. Um and uh for what? You know it's one of my relatives
they plan to send the children overseas, and the mother told me we are not saying. I mean we
we don't have any ambition that we want our daughter to be understanding. We just want the
daughter to have a normal life. To be normal, to be happy, have a happy childhood which is
not available in China because of competition right? So this is another thing reproduction,
became very competitive, uh became a very competitive game in China. You must buy
certain house, your must go certain schools etc. Uh suggested to be happy life to be
go back to the very basic, and of course they pay you lots of money go overseas to pursue that
goal. So there is a it's it's it's really go back uh to to the concern about the life itself,
and of course not the biological life. It's about you know happiness and mental health and etc. Of
course it's related to status and class relation too. So that's uh my my my main argument here:
so uh I hope that by taking reproduction migration as a trope to explain the phenomenon - why people
keep leaving China when China become an economic center in the world. I hope
like we can do a couple of things, Number one: it can to reexamine the relation between China
and the world. Number two: actually is to also to re-examine the history of China's
economic development, how accumulation, the accumulation regime changed. And then the
question of conversion right. I also wanted to to be part of the story. It's not only accumulation.
So that is a second about China's history and China's relation to the world. And thirdly:
I hope that this concept will also enable us to rethink the meaning of migration,
the movement of people. What what it means exactly, because I have worked on migration
for so long. And you know you have inevitably fatigue. I mean migrant experience is always
complex etc. right. But if you reduce everything to individual experiences, and
I mean you can write a lot, but probably you see very little. So whether or not you we can
think of the migratory experience, and especially the strategies in a more analytical term, and link
that to larger political economy. I don't know whether or not it works the third point, so it's a
uh it's it's a very, if it's even less certain. I'm even less certain about a certain point than
I am about the first two points yeah. So I stop here. So very much look forward to your questions.
Thanks very much uh. What a wonderful talk. There's so much to dig into there.