Resources for rural areas

They live and work in the cities. They pay taxes in cities. Some even grow up in cities. But no matter how hard they work they are still treated differently from other urban residents.

Although the second generation of migrant workers, those born in the late 1980s or later, are better educated than their predecessors - thanks to the 9-year compulsory education introduced in 1986 - their status and treatment in cities has not substantially improved as they still hold their rural hukou, or household registration, which nails people to their place of birth.

While the first generation of migrant workers were not treated the same as other urban residents, they were content to move to urban areas to work as they could earn more money than they would back home.