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7 Asia-Pac. J. on Hum. Rts. & L. 29 (2006)
Migrant Children and the Right to Compulsory Education in China

handle is hein.journals/apjur7 and id is 143 raw text is: Asia-Pacific Journal on Human Rights and the Law 2: 29-74, 2006.
© 2006 Koninklijke Brill NV Printed in the Netherlands
MIGRANT CHILDREN AND THE RIGHT TO
COMPULSORY EDUCATION IN CHINA
Xia Chunli*
1. Introduction
The People's Republic of China (PRC) is in a process of modernisation
and urbanisation. 1 Especially since the late 1970s when it initiated a policy
of reform and opening-up, China has experienced rapid economic
development.2 This process is however unbalanced in that there is a
progressively enlarging east-west gap in the country.3 This process has
also triggered a degree of social division and social stratification.4 Since
PhD Candidate, Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong.
'Modemisation' is used to describe the world's transformation and development after the
first industrial revolution. It is a process in which society goes through industrialisation,
urbanisation and other social changes that completely change the life of individuals. See
Rongqu Luo, Continued New Treatise on Modernization: Modernization Process in East
Asia and China (Xiandaihua Xinlun Xupian: Dongya Yu Zhonguo De Xiandaihua
Jincheng), Peking University Press, 1997), p 28. 'Urbanisation' refers to the phenomenon
of a large rural population moving into cities. Urbanisation started with the Industrial
Revolution in 1760s England. Many European, American and developing countries have
experienced the urbanisation process. Because of the household registration system,
China's urbanisation process is different from that of other countries. See Qiang Li, Rural
Labourers and China's Social Stratification (Nongmingong Yu Zhongguo De Shehui
Fenceng), Social Sciences Documentation Publishing House, Beijing, 2004, p. 1 and
chapter 17; see also Yue Du, Libing Wang, and Peizhi Zhou, eds., Elementary Education
for Urban Migrant Children: Policies and Innovation (Chengshi Liudong Renkou Zinv De
Yiwu Jiaoyu: Zhengce Yu Gexin), Zhejiang University Press, Hangzhou, 2004), chapter 1.
2 From 1993 to 2000, China had completed nine 'Five-year Plans' and achieved rapid
economic development. Especially since 1979, the year China adopted policies of reform
and opening-up, it has maintained a continued Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increase. As
the National Bureau of statistics has reported, the average annual GDP growth from 1979 to
2004 was 9.6%. At http://www.stats.gov.cn/zgjjpc/cgfb/t20060307_402309437.htm.
3 Http://www.china.org.cn/chinese/zhuanti/xbkf5/806074.htm.
4 'Social division' refers to the division of labour in society. 'Social stratification is the
hierarchical arrangement of social classes, castes, and strata within a society. While these
hierarchies are not universal to all societies, they are the norm among state-level cultures.'
At http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social-stratification.

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