Rural to Urban Migration Homework
You will be explaining why people move from rural areas to urban areas
- Read the following information:
Rural = countryside
Urban = towns/cities
There are an estimated 200 million migrant workers in China. Most move from the rural west to the more urban areas in the east. Many arrive without the skills demanded by urban employment and end up without work or in low paid jobs. Even so, it is common for these migrant workers to send money back home to support their families. In response to the large numbers of unskilled workers moving to the cities, the Chinese government has set up vocational schools in a bid to limit unemployment. The courses are open to people up to the age of 35 and teach specific job-related skills as well as more traditional subjects. Cao Fei and Tong Yan are part of a new generation of young people in China, with opportunities and ambitions beyond those available to their parents under a strict communist government. Cao Fei and Tong Yan do not want to do the same unskilled physical labour as their parents. They want to do jobs they like with a more relaxed environment. Both dream of becoming clothes designers, partly to be better able to support their families. To realise their dreams, they have enrolled in a vocational school to learn the basics of design and clothes production. The school takes on work producing clothes for private companies. The companies cover the cost of materials while students gain real life experience. They plan to move to the city when they graduate. Both dream of working for big companies and possibly moving abroad but are aware they will miss their families back home.
- Answer these questions using the information above:
How many migrant workers are there in China?
Where are the rural areas in China? West or East?
Why do many rural people end up without work or in low paid jobs?
What do migrant workers send home to their families?
Why did the Chinese government set up vocational schools?
What do the courses at vocational schools teach?
Cao Fei and Tong Yan want to be clothes designers. If they hadn’t moved to the city, what kind of work would they have ended up doing (like their parents)?
- Read this information:
In China, many migrant workers move to the city to earn more money and escape rural poverty. It can also be a chance to find new opportunities. Liu Hong Liang is a manager working for an engineering parts firm. The firm has undergone major expansion which Hong Liang puts down to government policy, a boss with excellent business management skills and a united, positive workforce. The manager has introduced a reward and punishment system with successful workers receiving bonuses and poor workers having their pay docked (pay cut). Hong Liang says this has had a positive effect on the workforce and the business. About once a week, Hong Liang leaves the dormitory he shares with his co-workers and travels to his rural home thirty miles away. While there he works on his parents' farm. He left the farm to improve life for himself and his family and to see more of the world. By moving away he feels he can contribute more to his family by saving money for his parents. Although he sometimes thinks of moving to a larger city, Hong Liang feels he lacks the education to do so. He also feels he will return to his rural home when he grows older.
- Answer these questions:
Why do many migrant workers move to the city?
Where does Hong Liang live?
How far away do his parents live?
Why did he leave the farm?
Why didn’t Hong Liang move to a larger city?
Extension:
Extra R1 if you complete this task. For those of you aiming for a higher end of unit assessment grade – you need extra detail for your answers.
Watch this clip and answer these questions:
What does Liu Hong Liang make in the factory?What are his wages?
How many people does he live with?
How does Liu Hong Liang describe farm work
How much money does Liu Hong Liang save?
What does Liu Hong Liang do with the money he has saved?