Annotation:::: The paper takes a sociological approach to poverty alleviation and spontaneous migration in China, and discusses how to advance the study of these subjects. Spontaneous migration for poverty alleviation began in 1983 in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Gansu province. After 1990, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Yunnan province and Guizhou province also started implementing a policy of relocating the poor to different places. By 2004, more than 10 provinces and autonomous regions had implemented projects for poverty alleviation through spontaneous migration across the country, relocating a total of nearly three million people and achieving positive results in terms of poverty alleviation.Using documental and empirical study, the paper finds that anthropological field research is a promising method for migration studies. Based on the development trend in migration studies, it is important to extend the area of study to consider issues such as migrant adaptation to the new social setting in a sending place, the integration of migrant communities as well as their social and economic development, and migrant identification. They conclude that a well-functioning migrant community will treat each migrant as a member of the community.
