What are the reasons why part-time farming promotes urbanization?
The part-work part-farming model refers to a family reproduction and economic reproduction model based on the intergenerational division of labor, in which the offspring go out to work and the parents farm at home. It is so far the main livelihood method of rural families in general agricultural areas, and the part-work part-farming model is an institutional arrangement with Chinese characteristics. The arrangement in which the parents farm at home while the offspring go out to work has in fact promoted steady urbanization. Why is it said that parents farming at home promotes urbanization?
1. The “part-work” of rural youth
The offspring earn monetary income by working elsewhere. If a young couple both work, calculating at a monthly income of 5,000 yuan, they have 60,000 yuan a year. After deducting basic living expenses and rent, they can save 30,000 to 40,000 yuan. This is mainly used to pay for children's education, social gift-giving expenses, purchase of old-age insurance, general living consumption, medical care, and investment in reproduction. From the surveys, children's education is often a considerable expense. The reason is that the quality of rural school education is poor, so farmers with slightly better conditions choose to rent a house in the county seat or a town and bring their children there to study, while those with poorer conditions choose boarding schools. This not only increases expenses but also requires labor for caregiving. The burden of social gift-giving is well known, and 10,000 yuan a year in social gift-giving expenses is considered normal. Calculated this way, if the couple both work, with a bit of luck and more overtime, they can have a certain surplus each year, and with even better luck, they can buy a house in the county seat by working.
The offspring correspond to the group of rural youth, which mainly consists of two parts. The first is the new-generation migrant workers, who work elsewhere all year round and cannot return home more than a few times a year. Their income is around 2,000 to 5,000 yuan, with those around 2,000 yuan being more numerous, but it is unstable. The second is rural university graduates. This group is mostly called the “ant tribe” in cities, living in cramped urban housing. Their jobs may be somewhat respectable, but their income is not high either.
Both groups have the need and impulse to enter the city, but buying a house, settling down, and establishing a home in the city requires many years of accumulation. Moving the whole family into the city is impossible for this group; at most, the core small family moves into the city. But judging by their income, even for the core small family to move into the city is not so easy. The new-generation migrant worker group still needs to return to their hometown, and among them the majority with better conditions enter the county seat or nearby small cities. It is also very difficult for the rural university graduate group to enter large cities in one step; most move among second- and third-tier cities or county seats, or work in large cities and settle in small cities. At present, returning home and gradient mobility enable the rural youth group to remain basically stable.
In other words, “part-work” is not a steady-state model. Both returning home and gradient mobility are unstable states. Whether it is the large army of new-generation migrant workers or the group of rural university graduates who enter cities to work, these two parts of rural youth are in a state of mobility and need their parents to provide necessary support in their hometown. If the parents cannot provide support, it is very difficult for them even to form a family, and even if they do form a family, it is easily broken.
2. The significance of the parents' “part-farming”
The reality is that the parents indeed stay in the village and provide support to their children in various aspects. This urban-rural dual structure within the family is very common, namely the model in which the offspring live in the city and the parents live in the countryside. The parents farm in their hometown, do not need or expect their offspring to support them in old age, and at the same time must provide various kinds of help to the offspring who have entered the city. When the offspring need the parents to look after the children, the parents can go into the city for a period of time, and some simply leave the children in the rural hometown to live. The grain, oil, rice, flour, and meat from the parents' farming at home are often also given to the children who have entered the city. It is very difficult for the parents to find sufficient employment positions if they enter the city, and the city currently cannot provide relevant social security either. Even if they really enter the city, most can only become a consuming group. Seeing the pressure of their children's urban life, the parents are also unwilling to enter the city and spend their children's money.
The parents stay in their rural hometown. Judging from the actual situation in rural areas, they mainly do three things: first, farm; second, build houses; third, take care of children. “Not a moment to rest.” Talking with people around 50 years old in rural areas is the most striking; they will say, “As I get older, I actually get busier and busier.” At forty, they prepare the bride price for their son's marriage and build a multi-story house. After the son's marriage is completed, they have to take care of the children for them, and also repay the debts owed for building the multi-story house or buying commercial housing. By the time they reach sixty, they have to save money for their own old age. Few of them expect to rely on their children for old-age support. Even if their children have relatively high incomes in the city, they all know that their children's social competitive pressure is not small.
The parents staying in rural areas can create enormous productivity, only it cannot be measured by GDP. Almost every farmer family needs this and can benefit from it. The parents staying in the village may not seem obvious, but once the parents follow their offspring into the city, many inconveniences and high consumption immediately become apparent. Apart from huge old-age and medical expenses, all the roles the elderly can play in rural areas become ineffective. Not only can they not provide any support to their children, but they also need their children's care everywhere. In rural areas, no matter how hard and tiring it is, they feel that living in a familiar society of several decades is meaningful. After only a few days in the city, they become listless. So when several elderly people in the village whose children have already moved into the city and settled there are asked why the grandchildren are left in the village to be cared for when they are only a few months old, and whether it would not be all right for them to go into the city to care for them for a few months, they will say that aside from the high cost of living in the city, the house is so small that staying cooped up at home for a few months is unbearable. Urban life sounds beautiful, but ask the rural elderly and few are willing to live in the city.
If there were no elderly people in the hometown, one of the young couple would have to stay home to take care of the children, which would undoubtedly make the lives of rural youth even worse. Many children in such families end up divorcing, even divorcing multiple times. If the elderly follow their children into the city, exceeding the limit the family can bear, it will inevitably cause constant family conflicts and leave the elderly depressed.
At this point in the discussion, it can be seen that the parents' part-farming plays an irreplaceable role. First, it provides security for the offspring to form a family, preparing the bride price necessary for marriage and building a house for them or providing part of the money to buy commercial housing. Second, in the initial stage of the family life cycle of the offspring's family, they can take care of the children for the offspring, allowing the young couple to work and start businesses in the city with peace of mind. Third, because they have land in the village, they can support themselves in old age.
3. Necessary conditions for steady urbanization
⟦NL> When migrant workers enter the city, one end is the countryside and the other end is the city. Settling down in the city cannot be achieved in one step; it requires the accumulation of two generations or even more. Even after entering the city, it does not mean that the rural end can be completely abandoned. The offspring's family needs the support of the parents, and the parents need and can only obtain basic living security in the village.
At present, in order to advance the process of urbanization, many local governments blindly encourage large-scale land transfer and promote the marketization of land. The logical starting point is the belief that part-farming is inefficient and hinders the speed of urbanization, and that farmers must be forced into the city like driving ducks onto a perch. Little do they know that it is precisely part-farming that brings urbanization into a steady-state model and enables the large army of youth to enter the city smoothly through “part-work.” The rural youth group is the main force in the current urbanization army. Whether it is the new-generation migrant workers or the university student group, or whether the discussion starts from a certain family, the conclusion can be drawn that part-work and part-farming together promote the development of urbanization. Among them, part-farming is indispensable and is the major part.
Seen this way, although part-farming keeps the parents in rural areas farming the land, it actually promotes the urbanization of the offspring, allowing urbanization to advance steadily. Letting the parents stay in the village is a wise move. Staying behind may be much better than wandering in the city or entering the city's “slums.” Part-work and part-farming are the secret to China's ability to pursue steady urbanization, among which part-farming is a necessary condition for steady urbanization. This also conforms to the central government's advocated concept of orderly urbanization and people-centered urbanization, realizing the vision of promoting the city through the countryside, leading the countryside through the city, and urban-rural interaction.