Cultural adaption of Chinese rural village ethnic minorities relocating to the fringes of larger ethnic minority towns

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Tuesday VI)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Migration and Marginalized Communities

Proposal

After China initiated reforms and openness under Chairman Deng many Chinese have been lifted from poverty. However poverty in rural and ethnic areas continues. Recent Chinese government policies aim to alleviate rural poverty in these regions; especially in ethnic areas.
People living in most ethnic places are relatively poor compared to with the developed coastal regions. In an effort to mitigate this disparity the Chinese government is implementing a new approach. The new policy relocates people from poverty-stricken villages to the outskirts of more developed and larger nearby towns. Through this program, officially called “Alleviation of Poverty”, the government aims to decrease or eliminate rural poverty through the enforcement of relocation laws.
Enshi, a prefecture home to the Tujia and Miao ethnic groups, contains the densest concentration of these minority groups in China. The Chinese government classifies the Enshi prefecture as an area of high priority for economic development. Therefore, governmental policies currently encourage ethnic minorities to migrate to larger towns, and as an encouragement, provides incentives such as newly constructing housing on the outskirts of the towns.
Our research team intends to probe the effects of resettlement policy on the lives of the relocated families. In other words, how do the relocated families adapt to their new lives and how do their cultural traditions interact to circumstances in the larger towns? The change for many may be dramatic. The rural villages are located in remote forested areas with no paved roads or electricity.
Thus far, the combination of government incentives and harsh conditions in the countryside have encouraged most villagers to relocate voluntarily. However, a small number resist the change and remain in the home villages. This research will focus on those who have relocated.
Research Question:
What cultural adaptions happen when impoverished, rural, ethnic minority Chinese families are relocated to the outskirts of larger, more economically developed towns? We will explore this question in the social, employment, education, health, and family relations domains. We will explore this question using a qualitative research design based on purposeful sampling techniques.

Authors

• Daniel Earl Leitch, University of Wisconsin-Platteville

• Lindon Yang, University of Wisconsin-Platteville

• Chuan Earl tian, University of Wisconsin-Platteville