The Impact of Rural-Urban Migration on the Provision of Care for Older People in China

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Intrigued by Global Care Chain theory and the shifts of elderly care under the national rural-urban migration trend, this study aims to propose the new research direction of the national care chain in China. In the background section, the starting point of Global Care Chain will be followed by the status of elderly care and rural-urban migration contributions in China. Considering methods, this study collects secondary data and designs a survey for quantitative analysis, while conducts interviews for thematic analysis in the case field of Shanghai. The anticipated outcomes section consists of literature implication on China Care Chain, practice implication for elderly care in both rural and urban areas, and policy implication.

1. Background

Global Care Chain (GCC) focuses on the mechanism of global reproduction, care services internationalisation, and care labour migration (Yeates, 2009). According to Yeates (2009) GCC explores the transnational interconnections and inter-dependencies, involving the flow of workers from developing countries to work as paid elder caregivers in developed nations while leaving their own children and parents behind. Global nursing care chain has been found across the various regions, including North America, Western Europe, and parts of Asia (Yeats, 2009; Bettio et al, 2006; Michel and Peng, 2012). There are similarities underlying these care chains, according to Bettio et al (2006) and Yeats (2009), the reasons why this care chain emerge includes: 1) in input countries: population ageing, decreasing birth rates, increasing labour force participation of women, insufficient market and public care provision for elderly people, increasing needs of caregivers, unwillingness of national workers to unde...

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