Why Do Internal Migrants Give to Hometowns? Motivations and Community Embeddedness

Along with the nation's rapid urbanization, rural–urban migration in China has become a social phenomenon attracting worldwide attention. Statistics show that 1 in 6 Chinese citizens was a migrant. The ‘hollowing-out’ of rural areas and ‘rural decline’ have become serious problems especially in less developed areas of China. As an important human resource, rural–urban migrants play irreplaceable roles in rural revitalization as they serve as an endogenous driving force for rural development. Attracting rural–urban migrants to give back and to actively participate in the construction of their hometowns is the key to achieving rural revitalization in China.

This research explores strategies to mobilizing rural–urban migrants to get involved in revitalizing their rural hometowns through charitable giving. In this lecture, we will discuss the following questions:

1. What factors drive migrants' charitable giving to their hometowns?
2. Does the spatial relationship between migrants and their hometown affect migrant giving, and if so, how?
3. What are the implications for rural re-vitalisation, population development and philanthropy studies in China as well as worldwide?

Yongjiao Yang is an Associate Professor and the Director of the Master of Social Work (MSW) Center at the School of Public Policy and Administration of Chongqing University, China. Her research interests include philanthropic behavior, charitable organizations, social policy, and community social work. Her works has been published in some top journals including Population, Space and Place, Policy Studies, and VOLUNTAS. She serves as a board member of China Association of Social Security (CAOSS) and a peer reviewer of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, VOLUNTAS, Sociological Perspectives, International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Asian Journal of Political Science, and more.

This free public lecture is part of the Global Chinese Philanthropy Research and Training Program and made possible with the support of the Cyrus Tang Foundation.

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Duration: 00:59:42