Isolated from the City?Urban-Rural Immigrants' Entrepreneurship in the Urban Fringe Area of Suzhou,China
以苏州胥口镇为例，研究城乡移民在非正规经济中的创业是否与城市主流经济隔离，发现其嵌入地方制度与社会网络，依赖本地正规经济繁荣。
The literature on international immigration considers that immigrants are often involved in informal economy of destination countries,and set up business for the segmented market.In China,peasant workers,rural immigrants to urban areas,are a result of the urban and rural isolation,and urban fringe areas are primarily their immigrating destinations.Burgeoning urban-rural immigrants' entrepreneurship in informal economy in the coastal areas of China has caused increasing concerns;however,few cases have been focused on specific sectors or small-scale geographic areas.This paper takes Xukou Town as an example,which lies in the southeastern fringe area of Suzhou City,with a purpose to examine whether or not the immigrant entrepreneurship establish an isolated economy from the mainstreaming economy of a city.Snowballing survey was used for data collection,and ten micro-business owners in the architectural decoration industry were interviewed in July,2012.Preliminary findings show that urban-rural immigrant entrepreneurship in informal economy is embedded in the local institutional arrangements and social networks.In spite of immigrants' low social inclusion,their informal business is not isolated from the urban,and its prosperity depends on the local formal economy.It is the‘middlemen'who are the bridge between the two sectors.