WATERING THE NEIGHBOUR'S GARDEN: THE GROWING - CICRED

SOCIAL NETWORKS AND SON PREFERENCE AMONG RURAL-URBAN MIGRANTS …
3. Data and methods
3.1. Data
Data used in this study come from a survey of temporary
immigrants in Shenzhen conducted by the Institute for Population and
Development Studies at Xi’an Jiaotong University in April 2005.
Shenzhen is located in the South of Pearl River Delta (see location
map in Figure 2 in the introduction) and is a bridge linking Hong Kong
and inner areas. Shenzhen also serves as an important transportation
hub in South China. In May 1980, Shenzhen was formally nominated
as a “special economic zone” by the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of China and the State Council. Now, Shenzhen
boasts one of the most robust and fastest-growing economies in
China. The economic development has been shifted to low input, low
consumption, high output and high efficiency in recent years. By the
end of 2004, the gross domestic product (GDP) of Shenzhen reached
342.88 billion yuan, with a year on year increase of 17.3 percent. The
growing industries in urban areas demand a great number of cheap
labourers and attract the surplus rural labour. The population has
increased continually from 1980, reaching 10,350,000 in 2004, only
16.5 percent of whom are permanent urban residents, and the
proportion of rural-urban migrants is the highest in China (Yang,
2005). Shenzhen therefore provides an excellent location to study the
evolution of attitudes and behaviours of those rural-urban migrants
who have changed residency status from rural to urban areas, but
without permanent legal status because of the household registration
(Hukou) system (Chan and Zhang, 1999).
A structured household questionnaire and a structured community
questionnaire were used in the survey. The respondents are rural-urban
migrants, including “concentrated” and “scattered” residents.
Concentrated residents live together in a relatively isolated community
with a low proportion of permanent urban residents, while scattered
residents live in communities with a high or medium proportion of
permanent urban residents. For the survey, five companies in three
districts were selected by cluster sampling, and five communities in
three districts were selected by systematic sampling. The survey was
conducted in April 20-28, 2005, and all respondents were above 15
years old. The survey provides data about personal characteristics,
attitudes and behaviours towards marriage and family, childbearing,
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