One City, Three Peoples: Migration, Immigration and the Making of Global Shanghai

Feng Wang , University of California, Irvine and Fudan University, China
Yong Cai, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Ke Shen, Fudan University
Qin Zhu, Fudan University
Jie Shen, Fudan University

Since the closing decade of the twentieth century, in less than 30 years, Shanghai, China’s largest and most cosmopolitan city, has reemerged as a leading global city. This paper examines the demographic basis of Shanghai’s rise. We show that Shanghai’s rise as a preeminent global city is a story of migration and immigration, a story off how the influx of migrants created a new global city. We trace changes in the three different populations who are of different origins and status, and worked and carried on their daily lives in the same geographic space but governed by different political and social institutional logics. These three groups are residents with local household registration status who enjoy full citizenship and benefits, the enormous influx of migrants from all over China who are partial citizens, and a rapidly rising number of foreign expats. Using population projection results, this paper also highlights the continued important role of migration and immigration for Shanghai’s future to be a vibrant global city.

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 Presented in Session P3. Poster Session Migration, Economics, Environment, Methods, History and Policy