Drum Tower: Competing for kids

About this episode

The episode discusses how cities in China are competing to attract the children of migrant workers by implementing new educational policies.

China’s decades-long economic boom was powered by workers who migrated from the countryside to cities to find jobs. But to do so, many of them had to leave their children behind. Now some cities are vying to attract migrant workers' children .  Zhejiang province is piloting an experimental policy which should make it easier for migrants to bring their children with them to cities and send them to school. David Rennie, our Beijing bureau chief, and Alice Su, our senior China correspondent, examine Yiwu, a city in Zhejiang that has enacted this policy. Sign up for a free trial of Economist Podcasts+. If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Host: David Rennie

Guest: Alice Su

Topics covered

• migrant workers
• education policy
• urbanization
• China
• children
• economic migration

Keywords

• migrant workers
• China
• education
• Zhejiang
• Yiwu
• economic policy
• urban migration

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Economist

Places: China, Zhejiang, Yiwu

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