Grandparents on the move: Urban migration and grandparenting in post-one-child policy China

China is undergoing rapid rural–urban migration and population ageing that are posing significant challenges to traditional patterns of intergenerational familial support. These challenges are augmented by the fact that in rural China, where institutional social welfare is largely under-developed, support for the elderly and childcare are often exclusively provided by family members.

To tackle population ageing, China’s one-child policy has been replaced with a two-child policy and subsequently a three-child policy. With limited institutional childcare facilities in place, ageing grandparents from rural areas often move to the cities where their adult migrant children settle, to provide care for grandchildren. This group of older rural people are largely marginalised and are invisible in the current research and policy agenda. This project thus aims to uncover their experiences during the processes of migration and adaptation and establish the ways in which this arrangement of grandparenting has impacted their everyday lives and wellbeing.

Principal investigator

Funder

  • British Academy
  • Leverhulme

Partner organisations

  • Global Network for Ageing Research on China (GNARC)
  • Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences

Publications

Contact

Dr Nan Zhang (PhD), Senior Lecturer