Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 12, 2025

Family-Centeredness and Urban-Rural Integration—A Sociological Study of Rural Migrant Populations

(Abstract)

Fan Xinguang and Zhou Feizhou

China’s rural migrant population has formed a pattern of “stable mobility,” in which migrant worker families reside in cities for extended periods without obtaining urban hukou status. Their migration decisions reflect a family-centered ethical orientation aimed at fulfilling family responsibilities and stage-specific goals that vary across the family life cycle. Organizing migration at the household level not only sustains the continuity of intergenerational responsibilities but also aligns with China’s gradual path toward urban-rural integration. In the process of Chinese modernization, this integration unfolds through the everyday practices of families engaged in stable mobility. This phenomenon reflects the practical rationality embedded in family ethics and resonates with the state’s objectives of promoting integrated urban-rural development and achieving common prosperity, illustrating the deep interconnection between household strategies and national developmental aspirations.