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This study aims to assess the enduring lack of citizenship for rural migrants coming to cities to work, and the extent to which there has been any progress in altering their status in past decades.

This study uses a narrative approach, relying on documentary sources. It takes a chronological approach in evaluating signs of progress but mainly tells a story of long-term continuity in the treatment of outsiders – even though they are from their own country – by urban officials and citizens.

The main finding is that the management of rural migrants in China’s cities has not fundamentally improved in the 40-plus years since they were released from the communes and permitted to come to cities to work. This is despite various pronouncements of change, most of which mattered little, if at all, in the implementation.

This study applies the concept of “citizenship” to what has been done and, mostly not done, for migrants over the past decades.