Claiming a Sub-Urban Citizenship: Migrants, Parenting and Reunited Households in Margins of Beijing, China

This paper explores the new realities and challenges facing skilled self-employed migrants who have worked in Beijing for almost two decades and who tend to settle in the far-off, intersecting area between the rural and urban spaces of the city (chengxiang jiaohequ). Based on extensive field research and in-depth interviews with some of these veteran migrants, this paper asks these questions: how do veteran migrants define their living space and resist structural discrimination? The research shows that veteran migrants are able to unite with their left-behind children and wives in the outlying area of the city, where cheap accommodation, public education and an informal economy are available. Examining the ways these migrants speak about parenting strategies, reuniting households and take advantage of various resources and opportunities in the intersecting area, this paper argues that they make claims on what I call a “sub-urban citizenship.” The paper joins a broader discussion on citizenship mutation in the global era and argues that the concept of sub-urban citizenship allows one to understand the nuanced and everyday strategies peasant migrants actively assert to enfranchise themselves.