A floating dream: urban upgrading, population control and migrant children’s education in Beijing

Abstract

In recent years, Beijing has implemented urban renewal policies aimed at forcing out rural migrants to restrict the city’s population. One such policy restricts their access to public schools. We use the demolition of the Beijing Sun Palace Farmers’ Market to examine the long-term impacts of these policies on the educational status of migrant children in Beijing. Based on a survey and in-depth interviews with migrant vendors, we find that government-initiated urban remodelling campaigns have an enduring impact on their social mobility and the educational opportunities of their children. Despite severe limitations to their mobility and economic opportunities, many migrant vendors were still determined to stay in Beijing. Subsequently, their worsened living status significantly affected their children’s prospects. Migrant children caught in this urban dynamic either struggle in substandard informal migrant schools in Beijing or are left behind in their hometowns, with little hope of a good education or improved social status.