Attention should be paid to the new left-behind phenomenon of the rural population

Since the acceleration of industrialization and urbanization, the problem of rural left-behind population has intensified day by day, and it is mainly focused on the left-behind children, left-behind women and left-behind elderly of vulnerable groups.

But how many are there in the "three staying behind" groups? Data vary from side to side. Take the left-behind children as an example, some say 58 million, some say 61 million, and some say less than 30 million.

On November 9, 2016, the media learned from the second plenary session of the inter-ministerial joint meeting on care and protection of rural left-behind children held by the Ministry of Civil Affairs that "the latest national survey results show that the total number of rural left-behind children in China is 9.02 million." From tens of millions of people to a sharp drop in cliff style to a mere 9.02 million, the difference in "definition" is an important reason, but it is also an indisputable fact that new changes are taking place in the rural left-behind population. From the author's grass-roots research, there are several kinds of rural population "new left behind" phenomenon, which is worth paying attention to.

The first is the anti-staying of the rural population in the city. That is, the elderly and children have entered the county seat to enjoy old-age care and better education in the city, but the parents of the children are not in the county seat, and may still be engaged in related industries in rural areas, or go to other places to work. As a result, the elderly and children are still left behind in the city. But the situation is much better than staying in the countryside, or at least the conditions have improved.

Second, men are left alone in the countryside. In my research, I found that because many village cadres are now in the city, but they are required to be on duty in the village department, as a result, they even have to do lunch themselves, which was absolutely unthinkable in the past. If we say that this kind of staying behind is still temporary, then a large number of bachelors in rural areas are tragically left behind, over 40 years old, no wife, no children, no future in career, no hope in life, more idleness, and less normal living. It is also a headache group in poverty alleviation. There is another category, that is, the old people, wives and children are all sent to the city, but the men in charge are still working hard in the countryside, such as setting up farms, farming, stores, processing, construction and decoration teams, and so on. as a result, rural life and work is completely reversed, and rural life is work, but life has to go back to the city, and the relationship between urban and rural areas has completely reversed. Even in some Taobao villages, there is a similar situation, that is, they bought a house and lived in the city.

The third is the new stay of rural women in cities. A group of women take their children to school in the city, while their men work in another city. Although they went to the city, they did not achieve family reunion. They often rented houses in the county seat and took care of two or three young children until the children were admitted to school. So what do you call this group of women? Let's call her "stay with her mother" for the time being, because she is not a full-time wife in the city, let alone has that kind of economic foundation, and living in the city is relatively poor and difficult. Most of its income is earned by men working outside the country, and the other part comes from the household income of the elderly in rural areas. Such a group, the state of life is also lonely, dull, and even easy to produce family divide.

Fourth, the elderly, especially those who are widowed and left alone. The traditional three stays of women, children, and the elderly in rural areas are now changing to those left alone by the elderly. because of the withdrawal of villages and schools in rural areas and the pursuit of better teaching quality by parents, a large number of rural children go to cities to study. In general, mothers accompany them to the city, so only the elderly stay at home and take care of farmland. It is better if both the old couple are alive, and if one of them has passed away, the old man left behind will be even lonelier. For example, in northern Shaanxi, there are some villages with less than 10 people, just waiting for the last old man to die, the village will disappear from history forever.

The new situation shown by the current rural population mobility, especially the new characteristics of the rural left-behind population, fully shows that the process of urban-rural integration has a long way to go, especially the integration of public services is a short board construction that urgently needs to be strengthened. otherwise, the new countryside may not be able to retain people.