China’s Internal Migrants: Processes of Categorisation and Analytical Issues

Abstract

This article reveals the malleability of the boundaries between political and analytical categories related to internal migration in China. The author analyses the iterative process of categorisation, which, far from being neutral, settled, and objective, comes within government intervention strategies. Statistical categories, media practices, and the scientific understanding of migration by social sciences all dovetail with each other, showing themselves to be subject to evolving political, economic, and urban landscapes. This paper shows that the categories of spatial mobility do not correspond to those of urban integration, with implications that are not only of an administrative, material, and spatial nature but also concern identity issues.