Wen, Hui: Travel Grant - 2016-2017

My project focuses on the implementation and impact of China’s new “people-centered” development strategy. My central question is how the local state is managing urbanization and migrant integration, and I approach this question through evaluating its role in workforce training and skill development for migrant workers. Growth in urban areas of migrant-sourcing provinces now presents an opportunity to illuminate this incipient transition. Due to incompleteness of official data, I will rely mainly on extensive qualitative methods including interviews and policy analysis. My dissertation contributes to a broad understanding of urbanization and economic development in the context of a decentralized authoritarian regime.