The floating population in Beijing China: new evidence and insights from the 1997 census of Beijings floating population.

In China there is currently a very large surplus in the agricultural labor force.... [Many of] these rural laborers are temporary urban migrants and are known in China as the `floating population.... In our paper we draw on data from the 1997 Census of Beijings Floating Population. Our discussion of the floating population of Beijing is in seven parts: (1) population size (2) age and sex composition (3) reasons for migrating to Beijing (4) distribution by residence and workplace (5) origins (6) duration of stay in Beijing and (7) sources of housing. This is a revised version of a paper originally presented at the 1999 Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America. (EXCERPT)