Randy Olson, Melissa Farlow Photography

Image 1 of 1
Less

RANDY OLSON_MM7890_1386317-1.jpg

Add to Lightbox Download

Women from the rural countryside learn skills like ironing at the Fuping Vocational Skills Training School to be maids for the newly wealthy comfort class.

Migrant workers in China come from impoverished regions to more urban and prosperous coastal regions in search of work.
Since opening up its economy in 1978 and moving toward a market economy, China has lifted about 400 million people out of poverty, which has led to wide income inequalities. The Communist Party is addressing this through a “harmonious society” that calls for more even distribution of benefits from recent economic growth.

China has experienced the largest mass migration from rural to city in history. Perhaps 400 million will have migrated by 2025. Many are farmers and workers made obsolete by modern farming practices and factory workers who have been laid off from inefficient state-run factories. Overall, the Chinese government has tacitly supported migration as means of transforming China from a rural-based economy to an urban-based one.

Copyright
RANDY OLSON
Image Size
4176x2784 / 4.6MB
Keywords
Contained in galleries
China's Bling Dynasty_National Geographic Magazine 5/2008
Women from the rural countryside learn skills like ironing at the Fuping Vocational Skills Training School to be maids for the newly wealthy comfort class. <br /> <br /> Migrant workers in China come from impoverished regions to more urban and prosperous coastal regions in search of work. <br /> Since opening up its economy in 1978 and moving toward a market economy, China has lifted about 400 million people out of poverty, which has led to wide income inequalities. The Communist Party is addressing this through a “harmonious society” that calls for more even distribution of benefits from recent economic growth. <br /> <br /> China has experienced the largest mass migration from rural to city in history. Perhaps 400 million will have migrated by 2025. Many are farmers and workers made obsolete by modern farming practices and factory workers who have been laid off from inefficient state-run factories. Overall, the Chinese government has tacitly supported migration as means of transforming China from a rural-based economy to an urban-based one.