Population Inflow And Settlement In Frontier Ethnic Areas From 1958 To 1963

During the period from 1958 to 1963,due to the Great Leap Forward,the Great Chinese Famine and the downsizing of the population,China had a large number of floating population.In the course of this population mobility,the border areas and the inland provinces showed a different trend—the inland provinces were dominated by population outflow during this period,while the border provinces,population inflow.Meanwhile,in the process of streamlining population,those people who should go back to their registered permanent residence stayed in border areas.In order to find out the reasons that result in this difference,the author takes Hohhot City,Inner Mongolia,which is located on the northwest frontier of China,as an example,and conducted a research on the population flow in this period in light of the documents from Hohhot archives.Through the study of the population flow in Hohhot,it can be concluded that the population flow in the border areas in this period is different from that in the interior—the former are characterized by inflow,while the latter,outflow.The reasons for this phenomenon are as follows.Border areas were in need of labor,especially skilled workers,so they were reluctant to let them leave.Besides,border areas can maintain the balance of food supply,so that there would be no serious famine.At the same time,the state adopted a loose population policy on the border areas,and people were willing to go to border areas.What's more,the immigration tradition in the border areas in history had a certain influence on the choice of population mobility.The discussion of this issue is conducive to studying the population mobility trend in this period in a better way.