Can Rural Migrant Workers Afford to Retire in China? A Study of Chinese Migrant Worker’s Retirement Savings

This paper makes connections between social policies of retirement, migrant worker’s migration experience, and migrant workers’ retirement savings. Using insight from the political economy of aging and stress theory, this paper links the macro levels of understanding with the micro levels of work and aging experiences for migrant workers. Using binary logistic regression with a sample of 699 Chinese migrant workers from three emigration provinces (Anhui, Henan, Sichuan), this paper explores four specific aspects of migrant worker’s migration experience in relation to their retirement savings: financial status; length of employment; social support, and levels of hopefulness. Findings reveal that migrant workers with better financial status, social support, and higher level of hopefulness towards future are more likely to have retirement savings as compared to their counterparts. Discussions linking the macro and micro levels of social policies were provided. Policy implications were discussed.

Predictors for HIV testing among Chinese workers in infrastructure construction enterprises in Kenya

Background There are increasing Chinese migrants in sub-Saharan Africa currently. Most of them are engaged in infrastructure construction. Research has shown that they stay at particular risk of HIV and are recommended for HIV testing. However, their HIV testing behavior, and its relevant factors, have not been researched among them by now. This study describes the recent HIV testing behavior and relevant factors among Chinese migrant workers in Kenya. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 110 male Chinese workers from six different Chinese infrastructure construction enterprises in Kenya. Furthermore, a two-stage cluster random sampling method was used to select participants. We used a questionnaire that included HIV testing history, demographic characteristics, and putative multilevel facilitators of HIV testing. Logistic regression was used to explore the predictors of recent HIV testing behavior among Chinese migrant workers in Kenya. Result Of the 110 participants, 30 (27.27%) were tested for HIV in the recent year. All participants were male, and the majority were married (73.2%). The mean age was 37.49 years (SD = 9.73; range: 23 to 63), and a considerable proportion refused to answer questions about transactional sexual behaviors in the last year. Most were able to obtain HIV-related information (91.8%) and were exposed to HIV-related information in the last year (68.2%), but only 47.6% had sufficient HIV knowledge. Nearly one-fifth of them believed that selling sex and paying for sex is acceptable. Multiple logistic regression analysis indicated that participants who could accept the ‘pay for sex’ (OR: 2.74; 95% CI: 1.02, 7.36) and exposed to HIV related information (OR: 4.75; 95% CI: 1.29, 17.44) were more likely to test for HIV in the recent 1 year. Conclusion Higher current HIV test rates were associated with a more open sexual attitude towards paying for sex and being exposed to HIV-related information in the last year among Chinese workers in Kenya. More specific attention to HIV should be attached to this population to increase the rate of HIV testing among them.

Migration and Health—Freedom of Movement and Social Benefits for Chinese Migrant Workers

This study utilized the concept of social right to understand factors affecting migrant workers’ health and healthcare in China. Using mixed methods, this study integrated findings from a survey of 817 migrant workers and a follow-up study of 30 intensive interviews to present an in-depth understanding of cumulative disadvantage of health and healthcare of rural-to-urban migrant workers. Our quantitative results indicated that migrant workers with no more than 5 years of working experience and having a good relationship with employers were 65% and 72.8% more likely to report good self-rated health as compared to their counterparts; those with work-related injury experience and low income were 41.6% and 53.6% less likely to report good self-rated health. Qualitative findings revealed the social contexts of the cumulative effect of the length of work experience and fear of medical cost on migrant workers’ declining health. Even though the participation rate for health insurance in China is reported to be over 99%, the lack of portability in health insurance and different reimbursement rates in health care access are structural barriers in health-seeking behaviors among Chinese migrant workers and in establishing sustainability in China’s healthcare system. This study adds to the literature by delineating the process of the unequal access to social rights in general, healthcare in particular as the major explanation for migrant workers’ poor health beyond the surface of China’s universal healthcare.

Ethnic Stereotype Formation and Its Impact on Sojourner Adaptation: A Case of “Belt and Road” Chinese Migrant Workers in Montenegro

Ethnic stereotypes are cognitive markers that are formed and modified because of intercultural contact with a new cultural group. There is now much empirical evidence that explicates how stereotypes of ethnic groups can impact individuals’ acculturation experiences. However, what is unknown is how previously nonexistent ethnic beliefs are formed as a result of contact with the local culture. One hundred and seventy-four (N = 174) overseas Chinese construction workers were contacted through the Chinese Consulate in Montenegro and agreed to participate in the present study. The online questionnaire asked workers to describe Montenegrin majority members in terms of five characteristics. These traits formed the stereotype markers that were classified as positive, neutral, or negative. Sojourners also answered questions that measured perceived cultural distance, social exclusion, knowledge of Montenegrin culture, feelings of social exclusion, and their sociocultural adaptation. Results show that both positive and negative stereotypes are correlated with less social exclusion and better socio-cultural adaptation. Perceived cultural distance, knowledge of host culture and length of stay was mediated by stereotypes on adaptation outcomes. Interestingly longer sojourn did not lessen the type of stereotype, nor did it reduce cultural distance. Contribution to the stereotype literature and practical understanding of how Chinese sojourners see majority members will be discussed.

High Frequency Mutations in pfdhfr and pfdhps of Plasmodium falciparum in Response to Sulfadoxine-Pyrimethamine: A Cross-Sectional Survey in Returning Chinese Migrants From Africa

BackgroundSulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) is recommended for intermittent preventive treatment in Africa against Plasmodium falciparum infection. However, increasing SP resistance (SPR) of P. falciparum affects the therapeutic efficacy of SP, and pfdhfr (encoding dihydrofolate reductase) and pfdhps (encoding dihydropteroate synthase) genes are widely used as molecular markers for SPR surveillance. In the present study, we analyzed single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of pfdhfr and pfdhps in P. falciparum isolated from infected Chinese migrant workers returning from Africa.MethodsIn total, 159 blood samples from P. falciparum-infected workers who had returned from Africa to Anhui, Shangdong, and Guangxi provinces were successfully detected and analyzed from 2017 to 2019. The SNPs in pfdhfr and pfdhps were analyzed using nested PCR. The genotypes and linkage disequilibrium (LD) were analyzed using Haploview.ResultsHigh frequencies of the Asn51Ile (N51I), Cys59Arg(C59R), and Ser108Asn(S108N) mutant alleles were observed, with mutation frequencies of 97.60, 87.43, and 97.01% in pfdhfr, respectively. A triple mutation (IRN) in pfdhfr was the most prevalent haplotype (86.83%). Six point mutations were detected in pfdhps DNA fragment, Ile431Val (I431V), Ser436Ala (S436A), Ala437Gly (A437G), Lys540Glu(K540E), Ala581Gly(A581G), Ala613Ser(A613S). The pfdhps K540E (27.67%) was the most predominant allele, followed by S436A (27.04%), and a single mutant haplotype (SGKAA; 62.66%) was predominant in pfdhps. In total, 5 haplotypes of the pfdhfr gene and 13 haplotypes of the pfdhps gene were identified. A total of 130 isolates with 12 unique haplotypes were found in the pfdhfr-pfdhps combined haplotypes, most of them (n = 85, 65.38%) carried quadruple allele combinations (CIRNI-SGKAA).ConclusionA high prevalence of point mutations in the pfdhfr and pfdhps genes of P. falciparum isolates was detected among Chinese migrant workers returning from Africa. Therefore, continuous in vitro molecular monitoring of Sulfadoxine-Pyrimethemine combined in vivo therapeutic monitoring of artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) efficacy and additional control efforts among migrant workers are urgently needed.

“We Are Not Foreigners”: Constructing Migrant Subjects through Korean Chinese Migrants’ Claims-Making in South Korea

In this paper, we approach citizenship as a claims-making process consisting of social construction practices that emerge from ongoing negotiations and contestations. We examine the migrant subject-making process of Korean Chinese migrants in South Korea. We draw on the voices of migrants to discuss how Korean Chinese construct their migrant subjectivity by mobilizing a collective understanding of ethnonational belonging and thereby deploy distinctive strategies to support their claims. Our analysis of the data gathered from ethnographic observations and interviews with Korean Chinese migrant workers, activists, South Korean bureaucrats, and policymakers show that Korean Chinese migrants have called upon blood ties and ethnic affinity, continued allegiance, economic contributions, and human rights to construct themselves as legitimate candidates for citizenship in South Korea. By shifting our analytical focus from the state to the migrant subjectivity that emerges through day-to-day negotiations, we aim to unpack the complicated dynamics of social constructions of citizenship.