With its warm, sunny climate and pristine environment, Sanya, Hainan Province has become a common destination for retired seniors to spend their winters.

Recent years have seen a growing number of seniors temporarily migrate from other provinces to spend their winters in Hainan Province of South China. Researchers are now turning their attention to this phenomenon and the challenges it poses in terms of social integration. This article will probe into the Hainan example.

Large size

With its pleasant climate and leisure industry, Hainan is a paradise for seniors from the mainland, who buy or rent houses to spend winters there, usually staying from October until April.

According to a report based on the work of the Hainan CPPCC Research Agency, the number of seniors over the retirement age of 60 who migrate annually has reached 450,000 per year.

The Sanya Remote Pension Union estimated that there are about 300,000 to 400,000 migrant senior citizens in Sanya, Hainan. Of them, 20 percent are enterprise retirees, 40 percent are retired from public institutions, 34 percent come from the army or Party and government organizations, and other professions account for the remaining 6 percent. These migrants constitute a complex population. Though they are similar in age, they come from different regions and social classes. They have varying levels of education and were brought up in different cultures and customs. Generally speaking, this group is highly heterogeneous.

Low integration

The elderly migrant community, though it belongs to the so-called floating population, essentially differs from other transient communities, which mainly consist of young laborers. Seniors mainly act as consumers, whereas laborers engage in economic activity as producers.

Furthermore, migrant workers have low social and economic status, while the majority of the migratory seniors come from big cities and developed areas, giving them social and economic superiority. Also, urban migrant workers are usually long-term residents, while senior migration is seasonal. These differences mean that seniors have much less incentive to integrate with the local community relative to migrant workers.

Social integration of the elder migrant population is multifaceted. From a broad perspective, the population must integrate into the city where they live, but at the same time, they must also integrate into the community on a smaller scale. Unlike marginal groups, which are vulnerable to social exclusion, the privileged elderly population has a high degree of systemic integration. For example, 17 provinces have established interprovincial medical billing partnerships with Hainan, ensuring the systemic integration of medical insurance. Although the elderly migrants and the locals speak different dialects, Mandarin offers a bridge for communication.

Social networks, social participation and psychological identification are the three dimensions used to measure social integration. The establishment of social relations depends on blood ties, geographical conditions, and similarities in terms of occupations and interests. Elderly migrants and the local community have mostly formed a secondary relationship based on common interests.

In terms of social networks, elderly migrants have a low degree of integration with the local community. Because they are only temporary residents, this group has little reason to be involved in the public affairs of a city where they live for only a few months out of the year. Those who live among the local people might possess a higher degree of social participation than those who live together but remain separate from the locals. Geographical separation leads to social isolation. Therefore, in terms of psychological identification, there is hardly any sense of belonging for those elderly migrants within the local community.

Elderly migrants adapt to the situation in two ways. Some of them reside with local communities in rental housing, while others live together separately from local people in their own houses. However, the influx of seasonal residents has had a negative impact on locals. Official statistics show that there are 9,000 households and 13,000 permanent residents in the Zhanzhou community of Sanya. The arrival of elderly migrants increases the population of the community to about 40,000 every winter.

In the same space, population density and demographic structure change dramatically within a short period of time. In the winter, population density triples, and the proportion of people over the age of 60 increases from 10 percent to 70 percent. The social pressure brought by the drastic changes results in conflicts between seasonal residents and the locals.

At the same time, the high density of the migrant population results in increasingly frequent interactions. Seasonal population changes pose huge challenges to public administration and the supply of goods and services. Agencies, staff and facilities are always scrambling to readjust when migrants leave. The influx of elderly migrants changes the relationship between demand and supply, leading to a rise in local prices. Public resources, such as transportation and hospitals, become short in supply, negatively affecting the lives of locals and resulting in conflict between the two groups.

Because they constitute a subgroup, interpersonal relationships between the elderly migrants are mostly based on geographical similarities. They form exclusive groups based on their province of origin and tend to socialize only within the group. Enclosed residential areas cut down opportunities for the seasonal residents and locals to meet and become familiar with each other, which leads to misunderstandings. The elderly migrants are perceived as “self-important” and have a sense of superiority, which may stem from the fact that they come from developed areas and are of higher social classes. Locals are also resentful of the seasonal residents because they believe their consumption habits are driving rising prices and the fact that most of them are financially dependent on their children. In daily interaction, a minority of the elderly migrants who behave in a bad manner reinforce the negative stereotype of the seasonal residents to the locals. The stereotype is likely to be converted into a group stigma, which accounts for why personal conflicts evolve into collective ones.

Public planning has failed to accommodate the needs created by the influx. Huge differences between the elderly migrants and the locals in physical capabilities, living habits and schedules lead to disagreement on arrangement of time and space division.

These changes brought by elderly migrants severely bother locals, while seasonal residents consider some local customs to be uncivil. For example, poultry raising is believed to be a threat to public hygiene. Conflict is inevitable between groups from different cultural backgrounds that have yet to form a shared way of living.

Promoting communication

Local government policies aimed at the seasonal population include assimilation, repulsion and pluralism. Repulsion is not feasible. Assimilation is also not possible for those seniors from big cities and developed regions. A good solution to this problem is to promote communication between the two groups, which may help each to maintain their own cultural heritage while encouraging mutual learning.

Social integration of elderly migrants can be dealt with from the following perspectives. The local government should provide public services according to the changes in population size and structure to meet the common needs. The community should launch a platform for communication between the elderly migrants and the locals for more understanding and fewer conflicts. It also should aspire to a harmonious social order by providing services to elderly migrant and security for the local people. Also, the seniors should abide by local rules and regulations while respecting local customs and actively participating in social activities for the public good. Locals should treat the seasonal residents in a friendly way and play an active role in communication, forming a relationship characterized by mutual benefit. Last but not least, the local government should actively lead the elderly migrants to establish their own organizations for their self-governance and self-service.

Chen En is from the Teaching and Research Department of Public Administration at the Party School of the CPC Hainan Provincial Committee.