Cohort: SOMET 40

Topic of the thesis: Internal Migration and Marriage Formation in Contemporary China

Abstract: This project explores how rural-to-urban migration in China affects individuals' transition to adulthood through family formation behaviours and assesses marriage market inequalities during this process. Since the late 1970s, China's economic reforms have facilitated internal migration by expanding private enterprises and relaxing geographic restrictions, integrating millions of rural workers into the urban workforce. From a life course perspective, this migration—intertwined with social mobility through income changes, career development, and union formation —shapes migrants' life trajectories. This is particularly evident in marriage formation, which is a critical marker of the transition to adulthood. However, migration complexly affects these dynamics, impacting the marriage market's composition and often disadvantaging male migrants of lower socioeconomic status in finding suitable partners, thus introducing new forms of marital inequalities. These disparities are exacerbated by the interconnection between marriage and labour market opportunities, constraining disadvantaged individuals' prospects for upward social mobility through occupational or marital mobility. Consequently, such marriage market inequalities contribute to the reproduction of social inequalities and stratification, an area that remains underexplored in previous research, which has primarily examined the relationship between migration and the timing of first marriage or educational assortative mating. This project thus explores migrants' adulthood transitions through the intersection of migration, socioeconomic mobility, and marriage formation, including when and whom they marry. It investigates how socioeconomic status from occupation moderates the relationship and assesses marriage market disparities in this process.

Research interests: Family and Social Structure; Social Mobility and Inequality; Migration; Life Course Transitions

Graduated from: University of Manchester (MA); Shandong University of Technology & University of California, Davis (BA)

Degrees obtained: Master's Degree in Sociology; Bachelor's Degree in Social Work

E-mail address:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.