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Despite rapid economic growth in China since 1978, rural-urban inequality has widened. High levels of socioeconomic inequality can have profound implications for child development and lifelong educational equity. Using a dataset containing early childhood development (ECD) outcomes of 0- to 3-year-olds (N = 9,053) from study sites in Eastern, Central, and Western China, the study finds that the risks of cognitive, language, and motor delay are, respectively, 43.2, 18.3, and 20.7 percentage points higher in rural study sites than in urban Shanghai (ps <.01). Impact evaluation of cluster-randomized experiments shows that parental training (focusing on child psychosocial stimulation and caregiver-child interaction) can improve parenting beliefs and practices (or investments) and ECD outcomes of disadvantaged rural children (p<.01). Such programs can play an important role in advancing progress toward more social equality and economic equity, the stated goals of China's "Common Prosperity" policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research onhukou-based stratification in China’s urban labor market has either exclusively focused on inequalities between urban residents and rural migrants or neglected the segmented structure of urban economy. In this paper we analyze whether and how individuals’hukoustatus affects their labor market outcomes in urban China’s segmented economy, by simultaneously examining the effects of twohukoucharacteristics––the type of registration and the place of registration. Based on a sample of the 2005 population mini-census in Shanghai, we have found that, in addition to urban-ruralhukoudivide, the distinction between localhukouand nonlocalhukoualso plays an important role in determining workers’ entry into different sectors, occupational attainment, and earnings. We also showed that industrial segmentation matters more than ownership segmentation in the process ofhukou-based stratification. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The disparity in marriage timing between migrants and non-migrants in China has been detected. One of the explanations for this inequality is the hukou status. Yet, this explanation neglects a special type of migrants: those who have earned a local hukou. This study specifies non-hukou migrants, hukou converters, and local residents in Shanghai, and compares their marriage timing and pathways. Using discrete-time event analyses, this study finds that both non-hukou migrants and new Shanghainese (hukou migrants) are more likely to have a delayed marriage than their local counterparts, showing that hukou preference is not the sole explanation for marital inequality in China. Further estimations reveal that new Shanghainese spend a longer time entering a network-introduced marriage while they exhibit no difference in the timing of self-initiated marriages than local Shanghainese. The results indicate that hukou migrants are not deprioritizing marriage, but they lack social connections to the local marriage market. Non-hukou migrants encounter double disadvantages of lacking a local hukou and local social connections. Social networks are an alternative lens other than the hukou status to understanding marital disparities among migrants and non-migrants in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing research has conceptualized educational inequalities between migrant and urban youth in China primarily as an issue of differential access to education. Focusing on parenting practices and the intersection of migrant and social class status—and in particular parental education—we use a novel dataset of six-year-olds in Shanghai and show that although migrants, on average, use less effective parenting practices than urbanites overall, these differences reverse, or lessen, after taking parental education into account. Moreover, parental education is more important for both parenting and children's education outcomes for migrant families than urban families, suggesting the differential importance of social class for migrant groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single people increasingly look for romantic partners online. We use online dating as a lens to understand age preferences for potential partners and their implications for relationship formation and family change in China. Situated in Shanghai, this mixed-methods study employs a complementary design to analyze data from 5,888 dating profiles and 29 interviews with online daters. Using a two-sided analytical approach, we find that age preferences are highly gendered: With increases in age, men increasingly prefer partners who are much younger than themselves whereas women do not show much variation in preferred age gaps between them and their partners. In-depth interviews reveal the deep roots of these preferences. Gender differences in age preferences are shaped by the stigmatization of single women and men past a certain age, the centrality of reproduction in carrying the family line, and the highly differentiated gender roles in Chinese families. Taken together, online dating likely reinforces existing gender- and age-based hierarchies in China's marriage market. Gender asymmetry in mate preferences may contribute to further increases in marriage delay and non-marriage in urban China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]