Abstract
Educational migration has become a prevalent trend in rural China over the last decade, with rural families relocating to access urban schools for their children. Drawing on interviews and questionnaires with rural parents/guardians, and villagers, this study reveals that rural educational migration has contributed to the disintegration of rural communities by causing loss of community members and leaders, weakening social ties within communities, hindering the organisation of collective activities, and increasing villagers’ defamiliarisation and detachment. Findings show that the placelessness of China’s educational system that motivates educational migration has been a catalyst of rural community decline.
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Editor’s notes
Manuscript received on 25 October 2023. Accepted on 5 February 2025.
Excerpt
Full text document will be published online on March 2026.
Outline
Introduction
Literature review
Rural community
Education and rural communities
Data from County G
Findings
Prevalent educational migration in rural communities
Loss of community members and leaders
Weakened social ties
Decline in collective activities
Defamiliarisation and emotional detachment
Placeless education as a catalyst
Discussion and conclusions
First lines
Introduction
Now, only people over 70 are at home. Those who are slightly healthier are accompanying children to study in townships or county seats. (...) If anyone a bit timid visited our village, they might feel frightened. (Interview with S-Daorui’s mother, June 2018)
This comment reflects the experience of an emptying and disorganised rural community affected by the prevalent trend of 陪讀 (peidu, literally accompanying studies), which essentially means that rural adults migrate from rural to urban areas (usually within their county) with their children or grandchildren for the sake of the latter’s education. Peidu families usually assign one or more adults referred to as “guardian,” typically mothers or grandparents, to take care of their children and either buy or rent an apartment near the urban school (Lei 2018). Peidu adults are usually unemployed or working part-time. They focus on serving children’s education rather than their own immediate economic advancement (Wu, Wu, and C...
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References
Bibliographical reference
Yuan Teng and Kwok Kuen Tsang, “Education and the Disintegration of Rural Communities: Effects of Rural Educational Migration in China”, China Perspectives, 140 | 2025, 53-63.
Electronic reference
Yuan Teng and Kwok Kuen Tsang, “Education and the Disintegration of Rural Communities: Effects of Rural Educational Migration in China”, China Perspectives [Online], 140 | 2025, Online since 01 March 2026, connection on 19 April 2025. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/chinaperspectives/17885; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/13pte
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About the authors
Yuan Teng is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education in Central China Normal University, Room 623, Tianjiabing Building, No. 152 Luoyu Road, Hongshan District, Wuhan, Hubei, China 430079 (yuanteng2009@126.com).
Kwok Kuen Tsang is Assistant Professor at the Department of Education Policy and Leadership in the Education University of Hong Kong, Room D2-1/F-41, 10 Lo Ping Road, Tai Po, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR, China (tkwokkuen@eduhk.hk).
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Copyright

The text only may be used under licence CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. All other elements (illustrations, imported files) are “All rights reserved”, unless otherwise stated.
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