Migrant housing in urban china - choices and constraints

China’s recent waves of internal migration, primarily rural to urban, reflect a rapidly urbanizing society undergoing a transition from a planned to a market economy. The author addresses two key questions: what access migrants have to urban housing and howmigrant housing conditions compare with those of the locals. The main findings are based on citywide housing surveys and interviews conducted in Shanghai and Beijing, as well as results from official surveys. Interpre-tations of migrant housing patterns in urban China need to be linked with the country’s unique institutional factors, particularly the circulating nature of migration, the existing household reg-istration system, and the transitioning state of the urban housing market. Restricted access to urban housing, together with the temporary status formigrants, contributes to their poor housing conditions. Population mobility, primarily in the form of circulating migration, has increased significantly in China since 1983. A transient population of about three million now lives in both Beijing and Shanghai, according to the cities’ official 1997 surveys of “floating population,”1 and the majority is regarded as labor migrants. Both surveys also show that about half a million migrants have lived in each city for more than three years. For many migrants, urban life is precarious—lack of shelter, low and uncertain earnings, and worsened living conditions. For some, city experience also is an eye opener—increase