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RELATED THEMES education employment and income social change OTHER THEMES IN SW COLLECTION THEMES IN NE COLLECTION BACKGROUND |
migration in the southwest collection There is some mention of migration in the collection, which seems to be mostly but not exclusively male. However, it does not seem to be quite as common as it is for so many other communities on this site. The narrators in Huanglongsi, the Han mountain community in China's Hebei province also featured on this site, certainly suggest that it is a more dominant feature of life there. It may be that lack of education and for some a language barrier make it more difficult for these Miao, Yi, Wa, Lahu and Yao to get jobs in China's fast-growing cities and industries. There is suggestion that these factors also make them more vulnerable to exploitation if they do get work. One Yi woman (China 25) says with regret: "Not many go out (migrate) from [my] village. What can they do? Many people cannot read. They couldn't find a way to earn money if they go out (migrate)…" The most extensive reference to migration (China 16) mentions men not only looking for work within China, but also going over its southern border to the "foreign country" - probably Laos or Myanmar, where some of the same ethnic groups live. She implies that those who migrate come back and forth fairly easily: "[Migration has] no impact on the family if the woman doesn't fool around. If there are works which need the man to do them, she will send a letter and ask him to come back." When asked whether the men "bring back new ideas and techniques", she replies no. "They only go to earn a living, and make money. Other people don't learn their techniques. After they come back here, some would do fieldwork again; some would help to build houses if someone in the village needed this." This narrator also explains that some young woman are persuaded to leave their communities and marry Han men, or work for Han families, in the belief that you "don't need to work [if you] live with the Han, you could just cook at home, knit sweaters, and you wouldn't get wet from the rain..." . Her own sister did this, and became heartily disillusioned. One young woman (China 3) who struggled against family prejudice to gain teaching qualifications, talks of her longing to leave her home area to study: "I didn't want to live here. I couldn't live in this mountainous area! I could not stay any longer!" But her father's rule predominated: "My dad is the kind of person that doesn't want you to go out (migrate). I had a classmate… [who] fooled around with someone and got pregnant. My dad took her as an example [laughs]… [He] said to me, 'I prefer you to stay home and work.'…I thought that's pointless… He wouldn't listen…My mum has the same kind of old-fashioned thoughts." One Miao woman (China 12) who did succeed in leaving and becoming a doctor says she regularly returns to her home village in the mountains. She comments on how nervous and unconfident some of her Miao patients seem when they visit the county town: "…bearing in mind that they can't speak Han, I feel they are very pitiful… because…they can't communicate with other people around, and are afraid of being scolded, afraid of this and that." Such language barriers do imply that migrating for work could take a lot of courage. quotes about migration"There are women who didn't study well and went to [work in] other counties. Because of the financial difficulties in the family, my elder sister has gone too. She went to another place to marry a Han man in the 1980s… At that time, my family was too poor… An older female classmate encouraged her to run away [with her]. My sister knew nothing… Her life was difficult. Later, she came back and said that she was wrong to listen to others." "Yes, many [men seek jobs elsewhere] - such as building houses, digging roads. Some people go with a friend or relative. Some young men from team 1 and team 2 went to the foreign country (Myanmar or Laos) to work. There was a foreigner who came to marry a Lahu woman. When he came to fetch the bride, he took our men back with him to work in the foreign country… Those who went out (migrated) made money and sent some back to their parents. And their parents paid for others to help them in the fields here." "Yes, most of [those who migrate] are men… but they send money back, so the family can pay for some labour to do the fieldwork when it's busy - such as ploughing, for example... As for the housework, the women do it by themselves… if the children have grown up, they can help their mother with work. Although some of them go off to other places to work, they would come back to help when it's time for the fieldwork." "Women bear more [of the workload]. Men only help with the work when it's the busy season for planting. At other times, all the work is done by women. Men go out (of the village) to other places to work… Do women go out? There aren't any. It's rare, only one has." "The [urban] wage labourers have knowledge, they can think out ways to make their living, they are clever. People in the mountain cannot eat well, they wear poor clothing. [Here] Lahu people cannot wear as good clothes as the Han do." |
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quotes
migration in the northeast collection
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Summary
