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Migrating for the Bank: Housing and Chinese Labour Migration to Ethiopia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2015

Miriam Driessen
Miriam Driessen*
Affiliation:
Doctoral candidate at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford. Email: miriam.driessen@anthro.ox.ac.uk.
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Abstract

By shedding light on the concept of the fangnu (mortgage slave), this paper explains why young men from China migrate to Ethiopia. Young, educated, employed and ambitious, the fangnu is a modern type of slave who is said to have sold his freedom to the bank for the purpose of buying a house. For young men coming from a rural background, temporary migration offers a chance to earn the money so badly needed for a down payment or repayments on mortgage loans for their newly bought residential property. I argue that the fangnu is the child of a Chinese society characterized by high social mobility as well as a growing demographic imbalance owing to the one-child policy. In this context, a house – or in urban China, commonly an apartment in a high-rise building – is increasingly seen as a marker of status, especially in the marriage market. Although the Chinese do not demand a bride price, the hunfang (marriage house) has become the norm in urban Chinese society. Unable to rely on the financial support of their kin, young Chinese men from the countryside migrate to earn the starting capital needed to cope with the socio-economic pressures of settling in the city.

摘要

本文通过阐述 “房奴” 这一概念来解释中国年轻人移居埃塞俄比亚的现象。这些年轻人受过良好的教育、有工作、有理想, 但却成为 “房奴”。“房奴” 是指将自己的自由卖给银行以换取贷款购买住房的年轻人, 对那些来自农村的年轻男子来说, 临时移居国外能给他们提供赚钱的机会, 以偿付他们购买新房而迫切需要的首付款或偿还银行贷款。我认为产生 “房奴” 的原因, 既有中国社会地位流动性提高的因素, 也有由于独生子女政策造成的人口结构不平衡的因素。一栋房子——在中国通常指的是高层楼房的一个公寓——被看为是社会地位的标志, 尤其是在婚姻市场。虽然在中国, 新娘并非明码标价, 但是 “婚房” 已经成为中国城市生活一个不成文的条件。那些从农村来的年轻人, 由于没有亲属可为他们提供经济支持, 于是移居他国, 以挣得今后在城市生活的启动资金, 以减轻日后城市生活带来的社会压力和经济压力。

Keywords

mortgage slavesmigrationhousingstatus markerChinaEthiopia房奴移民住房地位标志中国埃塞俄比亚

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Articles
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The China Quarterly , Volume 221 , March 2015 , pp. 143 - 160
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Copyright © The China Quarterly 2015 

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