Post-90s rural mothers flocked to the county to buy a house

New Weekly

2024-06-17 11:02Posted on the official account of Guangdong New Weekly

While the new generation of farmers shifted their family spindle to the county seat and found a new starting point, the life of "county drifting" was also accompanied by uncertainty.

作者/ Felicia

In the 90s of the 20th century, when Xiang Biao was researching in the Pearl River Delta, he paid attention to what he later called "suspension".

Young people in a suspended state have basically never been to the ground, and it is impossible for them to return to the countryside in terms of economic life and interpersonal relationships. But for various reasons, they couldn't stay in the city, so they changed jobs and moved back and forth with a very high frequency.

More than 30 years have passed. Zhang Yihan, a researcher at the Institute of Rural Studies at Wuhan University and a doctor of sociology, has been paying attention to the "county drifting" groups in the central and western counties in recent years. Judging from her fieldwork experience, she believes that the young people who are more suitable for the term "county floating" today are the "second generation of farmers" in the central and western regions. Among them, many want to settle down in the county, but life is full of uncertainty.

They don't want to be "footless birds", but they also don't want to go back to their hometowns to retire. They counted six purses in order to find a place for themselves and their children in the county.

The following is Zhang Yihan's account.

Floating, is an attack on life

When I traveled, I came into contact with the "county drift" groups in Dali and Shangri-La, and many of the owners of homestays and coffee shops there were outsiders. Recently, the TV series has been on the air, and Altay will also attract such a "county float". This group of people wants to change their lives and achieve spiritual freedom. They are middle-class, or white-collar workers who feel mentally imprisoned.

These places are phenomenal counties, and phenomenal counties are rare. Those who choose this way of life are also in the minority, and they are still essentially elite or quasi-elite.

And the "county drift" I pay attention to is the post-90s peasant families who have moved to the city. Since 2019, I have been doing fieldwork, and I have conducted more than 500 days of research in more than a dozen provinces such as Fujian, Anhui, Hubei, and Henan.

The asset base of the "second generation of farmers" in the central and western regions is relatively weak, and the level of education is not so high. Combined with the interviews and data, their average education is below high school, and they rarely have a spiritual resonance with the sojourn story. Those Internet celebrity destinations have nothing to do with them, and they have a deep relationship with the counties around their hometowns.

The small shop opened by "Bao Ma in the City" is located on a typical county street, which is chaotic and lively. (Photo / Provided by the interviewee)

In the developed areas of the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta, many "county drifters" once wanted to settle in big cities, but later because they could not achieve it, they went to downstream county-level cities to make a living. In the process of population migration, the transportation and production capacity of these county-level cities have improved. They follow the logic of life in employment and housing, and I think it is difficult to call it "floating". The degree of adaptation of developed areas to the urbanization policy at the county level is very strong.

The counties in the central and western regions represent the situation of most counties in China. In the past 10 years, the urbanization of the county has developed rapidly. In my experience of living in the county, the changes are very specific. There are museums, botanical gardens, and even chain bubble tea shops like those in first-tier cities.

But over the years, I've found some paradoxes. When I conducted household research in rural areas in the central and western regions, many farmers said that their children bought houses and settled down in county seats, and the countryside was obviously hollowed out. But if you go to the county seats, they are also facing the dilemma of losing the labor force and the unsmooth industrial transformation, and in some places there is even an empty city.

Jiangxian County, Henan Province (pseudonym, a county seat in southern Henan) is my hometown. Like many counties in the central and western regions, it is located in an agricultural area, with relatively weak industry and commerce, and a mediocre level of economic development. I went into the communities and streets where migrant workers live in Jiang County, and conducted research and interviews with more than 60 migrant families. I have found that education is a particularly important variable.

The book "Children of the County and Township" also mentions that county education has reconstructed the lives of peasant families. If excellent educational resources are concentrated in the county, the speed at which young people in townships and towns will enter the city will be accelerated, providing land finance and economic income to the county, and peasant families will also have the spiritual motivation to enter the county to live. These 10 years were a period of rapid expansion of the county.

"Children of the County and Township"

Yang Hua and Lei Wanghong waited

Chinese University of China Press 2023-09

When the new generation of post-80s migrant workers stepped onto the stage of history, the academic community paid special attention to this group, believing that they were completely different from the older generation of migrant workers. However, judging from my research, the main living field of post-80s migrant workers is still the rural society, and they have a multi-child family structure, and they are still burdened with the regulations of the rural society. After starting a family, they picked up the self-denial and thrifty familialism of the older generation. The growth experience and life course of post-90s migrant workers are completely different.

The post-90s rural children grew up in real double-left-behind families (families where both parents went out to work) and have a deep understanding of the left-behind experience. Rural girls, in particular, in the Midwest, are sensitive to patriarchal thinking. According to the theory of compensation for scarcity, their material conditions are already relatively abundant, and what they lack is the company of their parents.

The people I interviewed were very interested in "complete families" and attached great importance to refined education. Many post-80s accompanying mothers are only accompanying in stages and providing support during the critical period (before the college entrance examination). However, the post-90s "mothers who enter the city" will embed their children's education plans into modern life for integrated consideration.

The post-90s "second generation of farmers" no longer have such strong local attributes. During the interview, if you ask about the final life plan of the post-80s, they will say that when their son marries a daughter-in-law and wants to return to the township and rural life, it can be seen that their value is still in the countryside. But the post-90s generation wants to settle in the county, the county is a new starting point for the family, and their children will become the "second generation of the county".

In order to accompany and educate children and pay for the cost of living in the county, the situation of "one family, three systems" in the central and western counties is particularly common. The general situation is that the father works in the big city, the mother takes the escort as the main task in the county seat, and the old man works in the countryside to help the family.

The real estate of the county promoted by the "daughter-in-law".

The change in the lives of peasant families in the cities was driven by young women, that is, by "daughters-in-law". Rural women are more affected by modernization than men, and for various reasons, they are reluctant to live in the countryside and take the opportunity of marriage to buy a house in the county.

In the families I surveyed, the experience of rural women born in the 90s is relatively similar, most of them only have a junior high school education, work for two or three years, and their families urge them to go home on blind dates, and most of them marry early.

This is the case with Xiaoyan's experience. When she was working in a big city, she had a relative of a sister in the factory who was a nanny. In the process of communication, she was amazed at the importance that families in the developed eastern regions attach to education, and a seed of education was deeply planted in her heart. For her, working outside the home is not necessary, the most important thing is to raise her children.

Chongqing, February 22, 2023. A mother and son are watching a comic book exhibition at the Chongqing Art Museum. (Photo/He Penglei, China News Service)

The material conditions of the post-90s "second generation of farmers" have also been relatively improved. Among the interviewees, many post-80s female workers are quite frugal, and rural women from multi-child families in the central and western regions even send money home on a monthly basis. Post-90s female workers, on the other hand, see working in big cities as an experience, and they will use the wages they earn to skate.

Exposed to the urban lifestyle, the psychological state of rural women born in the 90s is completely different from that of the previous generation. Most of the "mothers who enter the city" like Xiaoyan want to take root in the county.

I think the buying tide in Jiangxian probably started in 2015. In 2013, when Xiaoyan got married, she clearly told the man's family, "I won't live in the countryside, you have to buy a house in the county." So, in order to marry his daughter-in-law, the man's family bought a two-story small single-family house in the county seat with all the money.

Xiaoyan believes that to really take root in the county, you have to rely on yourself to make money and start a business. She first worked part-time to promote and brush orders, made a little money, and then used the money to build a small clothing store in the county. The career options for "Treasure Mom in the City" are very limited. Most of the mothers who want to start a business will open a clothing store, beauty shop or nail salon, because the cost is relatively low, and the requirements for education and technology are not high, and the working hours are flexible, and they have to take care of children.

Garment factories with flexible employment, but they are already full. (Photo/Courtesy of the interviewee)

As a result, the number of nail salons and clothing stores in the county exceeds the general size. Even if the nail art package is only 9.9 yuan, there are few customers on non-holidays. There is a famous commercial street called Erxiaodao in Jiang County, and the old stall owner said that 50% of the stores here have only been open for one year, and the shops are going back and forth in the process of closing and subletting.

Migrant families also want to stay in the county seat as a family of three, but in order to pay for the cost of living and education in the county, it is common for the husband to go to the big city to work alone. The county also leaves few opportunities for young men. In the interview, a young man said that the jobs with a monthly salary of more than 5,000 yuan in the entire county can be counted on one hand - delivering couriers, delivering takeaways, working as decorators, running business, and entering Muyuan (a local agricultural products listed company). The wife once complained that her husband could not make money in the county because he could not endure hardship, but after working in the slaughterhouse for two weeks, both hands were covered with blisters.

And the female labor force is tied up by refined education. In order to take care of their children, their working hours have become fragmented, which makes it difficult for women to find suitable jobs. Post-80s female migrant workers are important to China's industrial development. During the period of reform and opening up, the economy of the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta relied on women to support half the sky. If the mother is not employed for a long time and stays at home around the child, she will also face the mental dilemma of a full-time mother. One interviewee said she was scared when she came into contact with outsiders. There are not many job opportunities in the county, and the experience of not being able to do the job will continue to shrink their social life. In the long run, their willingness and ability to work will decline, and it will be difficult for them to enter the labor market.

Ultra-low price for nail art. (Photo/Courtesy of the interviewee)

The post-80s "second generation of farmers" have accurate calculations of family income and expenditure. A female interviewee born in 1984 said that her son was in junior high school and that she was most worried about his poor grades. If the grades are particularly good, she is ready to accompany him to study and train him well, and in the future, the house and car will be earned by the child herself; If her grades are particularly poor, she doesn't plan to spend too much money on education, she has to go out to work. Most of the people who work in the county's "accompanying factory" are post-80s rural mothers who are in the top class of local high school students. The investment in accompanying them in the year of the college entrance examination is effective, and after the college entrance examination, they will return to the big city to work.

But the post-90s "accompanying mother" has become a "mother in the city". For them, every stage of a child's development is important. They have a more refined and middle-class education concept, and their ultimate goal is to take root in the county.

Rooted in the county seat

In recent years, the family rhythm of farmers has changed. If the previous generation of peasant families lived a life based on savings, and their main axis and value belonged to the countryside, then the new generation of peasants shifted the main axis of the family to the county seat.

And the county seat is the field of consumption. Things that don't cost money in the countryside cost money in the county seats, and the basic cost of living has risen. Moreover, after the transformation of modern life, consumption has become the daily life of families in the county, and the cost of going out to dinner and children's entertainment cannot be saved.

When peasant families enter the county, they need to pay a higher cost of living than the county's people. There is an enlightenment education private kindergarten in Jiang County, all facilities are of high standard, a semester fee of 6,000 yuan, I thought it was full of "county second generation" children. But I was surprised to learn that most of the children came from peasant families who had moved to the city.

(Photo/"Flowing China")

These parents said that in public schools, children of teachers and civil servants are surrounded by children, and only when children receive attention can they be motivated and their self-confidence grow. They would discuss in the community, and the children in the village went to the county public primary school, and when they were in the third grade, the teacher couldn't even remember their names. They think that teachers in private schools are more responsible, they spend so much money, teachers are equivalent to service providers, and parents can make requests; But if the child goes to a public school, he can only please the teacher.

Migrant families in the city pay medical insurance in the village and see a doctor in the county seat, and only serious illness and hospitalization can be reimbursed, but the place of daily life has been transferred to the county seat, and the children are sick frequently and have a long cycle, so they need to spend extra money on medical treatment.

The county is a humane society, and they think that they need to spend money to get through the joints, otherwise they will pay more costs.

The fragility of "one family, three systems" is reflected in the inversion of the county's revenue and expenditure. In the logic of their lives, many expenses are unavoidable, but there is no substantial increase in income. A life based on savings can cope with large expenses at key nodes, but these families with county mortgages are mainly temporary employment, and their incomes are extremely unstable, but the mortgages are fixed. If there is an accident at home, and the family members face a serious illness or unemployment, it can be very stressful. When I was researching an unfinished building project in Jiang County, a middle-aged and elderly couple went to Hainan to work in order to relieve the pressure on their son. During the epidemic period, 8 couples divorced at the same time in this real estate.

(Photo/Unsplash)

In the past two years, capital has paid great attention to the county economy, and the consumption power of the counties in the central and western regions has indeed been underestimated. The change of generations of peasant families and the change of overall consumption concepts once caused a strong consumption power phenomenon in the county.

But the topic is so hot that I think it's overrated. The counties in the central and western regions are in the process of local urbanization, there is not much population inflow, most of them are stock markets, and after the capital of large catering brands sinks, small brands in small places soon go out of business. The tidal economy is a common phenomenon in the counties of the central and western regions, and the business is booming during the New Year's holidays, and the movie theater sells a ticket for 60 yuan and is still full, but there is usually no guest.

The urbanization of counties in the central and western regions has an obvious transitional nature, and it is difficult to change the status quo under the premise that the industrial base has not changed. So perhaps low-cost public services are the main task for counties in the Midwest. Otherwise, in the case of separation of production and life, this kind of county may fall into the dilemma of "having a foothold but no foothold".

Operations: Ono; Typesetting: Duan Meiyu

Cover: "The Princess Cottage"

Original title: "Post-90s Rural Treasure Mother, Flocking to the County to Buy a House"

View original image 1.51M

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