Annotation:::: The paper focuses on the development process as it relates to seasonal migration in rural and mountainous areas of China. According to the authors, early rural reforms led to an initial increase in the incomes of rural and mountain people in China. When these began to level off, they started looking for alternative sources of incomes. In the late 1990s, China’s cities had attracted close to 100 million rural and mountain migrants, most of whom were short-term labourers rather than long-term settlers. Rural-urban migration continues to be an intrinsic part of China’s rapid transition to a market-oriented economy.Using methods of documental study and field research, the authors find that seasonal migration of rural and mountainous China has reduced some of the tensions produced by unequal economic development. Returning migrants and their remittances in particular are vital sources of investment, entrepreneurship, and experience. Furthermore, while the vital contribution made by seasonal migrants to China’s economic ‘miracle’ was little recognized in the 1990s, but in recent years, China’s top leadership has referred several times to rural labour migrants as major contributors to the development of the country. Additionally, the authors state that several policy initiatives have been undertaken, all with the objective of freeing up the labour market across China, guaranteeing more equitable treatment of migrant workers in the cities, and envisioning a transition to a pattern of more permanent urban settlement of large numbers of rural and mountain migrants. The main thrust of migration policy, both at the national level and in many sending areas, continues to relieve the countryside of its ‘surplus’ population rather than to encourage rural economic growth in the context of a broader sensitivity to the institutional links between rural development, rural poverty and rural labour migration. Only by combining the development of rural and mountainous areas with considerations of reducing poverty and empowerment of migrant people, especially in terms of realization of gender equality, can poverty alleviation and overall development of rural and mountain areas be achieved.
