Migrant Children in State/Quasi-state Schools in Urban China

"Internal migration in China, by virtue of its sheer vastness and mythical might, continues to captivate and perplex scholars home and abroad. Yu powerfully positions his book in this enigmatic context and sociologises the schooling and parenting of floating children. The book raises questions of identity and legitimacy, of memorisation and aspiration, of affiliation and classification, of reproduction and transformation, and indeed, of power and participation in societies complicated by puzzling and morphing issues of mobility, diversity, inclusivity, and citizenship. Yu dexterously deciphers the matrix of the entangled spaces of family, school, policy, the market, and the state. His book is a scholastic rarity and a readable piece of exemplary research that sparks ongoing reflections and contestations on urban privilege and ‘migrant paradox’, on the predatory capitalism, on what all these mean for contemporary migrant communities. "

Guanglun Michael Mu, Associate Professor, University of South Australia, Australia

"Hui Yu’s monograph makes a timely contribution to scholarship on education mobilities and inequalities in contemporary China. His book provides incredibly rich ethnographic data about the ecology and landscape of state urban schools hosting large numbers of migrant children. He provides rigorous theoretical and empirical interventions to help readers gauge the complexities of rural-to-urban migration and the schooling ‘black box’. This book is a must read for scholars and practitioners interested in migration studies, education mobilities, and social theories and social inequalities."

Cora Lingling Xu, Assistant Professor, School of Education, Durham University, UK