Largest Migration in History

China has had the biggest migration in human history around  120 million people so far. This began in the early 1980s, when Deng Xiaoping’s (ex Chinese leader) “Reform and Opening” (experimentation with free markets and foreign trade) started a large surge of migrant workers and entrepreneurs  from rural farms and villages to factories in eastern boom towns. The immigrants  initially focused on smaller settlements which swiftly grew, like Shenzhen, which grew from a small fishing town to a modern conurbation of 4 million just two decades.

The migrants workers are generally young, many having just left school — and drawn by stories of "bright lights". It was initially male workers looking for seasonal work however it soon changed to include year-round work and vast numbers of women (so many that some cities like Dongguan are now 70% female). 

Recently, a number of migrants have started settling in urban areas instead of making their way home after a few years. The laborers typically eat, sleep, and work under one roof , often for pitiful wages, working seven days a week, in western terms sweatshops although many of the workers consider it a chance for a better future. The money they send home is now the biggest source of income in many rural villages, more so than the rice crops of fishing.

China's  population is now rapidly shifting the country from an agrarian society to an industrialized one. As a result society a a whole is changing, moving away from the communists governments original ideals. The change to industrialisation is starting to promote western concepts; individualism, materialism, and feminism for example whether the state likes it or not.