Every Chinese New Year, there is a wave of migrant workers returning to their hometowns. Currently, there are still three months left until the Chinese New Year, but due to the economic downturn in China, some migrant workers have already started returning home. Recently, the Chinese Communist Party issued a warning to prevent a massive wave of migrant workers returning home, sparking doubts and criticisms from the public.
A blogger released a video saying that in November, the first group of migrant workers had already started to return to their hometowns. “How do you identify migrant workers? They are the ones carrying their belongings in snake-skinned bags.”
Another netizen shared a video saying that after quitting his job in the city and returning to his hometown less than a month ago, the village party secretary called him and told him not to stay at home all the time but to go out to work.
On November 5th, Epoch Times reported that there was an early return of migrant workers in Guangzhou and Kunshan, two major manufacturing hubs. On November 13th, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the CCP held a meeting in Yunnan on the cultivation of rural artisans and employment support for poverty alleviation, emphasizing the need to prevent a massive return of migrant workers to rural areas.
In the past week, discussions about the official prevention of migrant workers returning home have been ongoing on social media in China and overseas, with many criticisms and questions directed towards the authorities.
A mainland netizen said, “If you can’t find a job, it’s called flexible employment; if you get laid off and return home, it’s called lingering in the countryside.” “No one cares about left-behind children, but someone manages migrant workers returning home!” “Lockdowns, closing detention centers, will these measures not return?” “If there are jobs, people won’t return to the countryside. If in the city you only have expenses and no income, then returning to the countryside becomes an unstoppable trend, ultimately related to employment.” “Fallen leaves return to their roots! Are you telling them not to go back? Absurd and ridiculous.”
On platform X abroad, many netizens discussed, “What does this mean, do poor people not even have the right to return to their hometowns? For those who urgently need to return to their hometowns because they can’t make a living elsewhere, should they wait for government support for several months?” “Young people are not country bumpkins anymore, having seen the world, maybe they are plotting to establish anti-government organizations in rural areas to resist the government! That’s why the government is nervous!” “Staying in the city is easier to manage. After returning to the countryside and having nothing to do, what if a ‘Chen Sheng-Wu Guang rural uprising against the city’ happens?” “The Party fears another Zhang Xianzhong.”
Due to the economic downturn in China, migrant workers who left rural areas are now facing the dilemma of whether to stay in the city or return to the countryside. Several young people who have returned to their hometowns shared their stories with Epoch Times.
Ms. Zhang, a post-2000 graduate from Yuncheng, Shanxi, who returned to her hometown, mentioned that it’s hard to find a good job in big cities with high expenses. Working in the city feels like a zombie, with life revolving around work, eating, and sleeping. Although farming back in the village doesn’t bring in much money, she finds warmth and freedom in the family atmosphere. “I return when the family needs help; it feels better than working in the city. Food and shelter are taken care of at home.”
Mr. Chen from Shanxi, who returned to farming six years ago, mostly ran at a loss in planting and animal farming. “Growing your own crops or raising animals is better than working for others. It’s tough to make money.”
Mr. Chen from Guizhou, who worked in various coastal cities for six years and returned due to health issues caused by the harsh factory environment, mentioned that he is now readjusting but facing a crisis. He believes that lying low in the countryside is not an option.
Mr. Wang, a 35-year-old from Shanxi who had been working away from home for over ten years, got laid off in Beijing last year and had to return to his village, where mere survival is a challenge. He fears the limited land his family owns won’t sustain them, especially with rising rural medical insurance costs. “Earning $20 a day, sometimes with work, sometimes without, after rent and food, there’s nothing left. My parents called, saying if I can’t go on, come back. It’s all about connections in this elitist society. Even washing dishes in the miners’ canteen relies on connections.”
On November 21, WeiBo influencer and independent scholar Du Jiangguo remarked on the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs’ emphasis on preventing a massive return of migrant workers to rural areas. This likely reflects the worsening economic problems in China, where slow growth means fewer job opportunities in cities, forcing migrant workers to return to the countryside and stay there. China’s economy urgently needs to return to high growth. No speed, no quality.
Du Jiangguo mocked the authorities’ recent slogan of “high-quality development,” suggesting that focusing solely on quality can result in losing both speed and quality. Only high growth can lead to high quality, as low growth cannot achieve high quality. “A decade ago, I explained this, but sadly, no one listened.”
Professor Zhu Guobin from the City University of Hong Kong Law School commented on WeiBo, stating that if urban jobs are scarce, migrant workers have no choice but to return to the countryside. If they struggle to survive in rural areas, they will be stuck there; and Chinese New Year is approaching. To solve the problem, rural areas need entrepreneurial opportunities (which are hard to come by), and cities should provide job markets. Otherwise, issuing decrees cannot solve the bigger issues.
WeiBo influencer “YupaoPao” noted that many rural areas rely on the income of young people working outside for their healthcare and elderly care. However, with the decline in the real estate industry in recent years, many migrant workers have lost their jobs and returned to their home villages. While this situation might be sustainable for a year or two, if employment issues are not resolved in the long term, what consequences will it bring? What happens when many idle young people gather in a village?
He wrote, “It’s now late November, and in about half a year, about 10 million college students will graduate and enter the job market. I don’t know what to do.”