FIGURE 9.2 Workers, development, and urbanization in the new Chinese economy. In 2009, more than 145 million workers—over one-third of whom were women—were “migrant workers” who had moved from rural areas to urban jobs, usually without the government’s permission and hence without the full rights of citizenship they would be entitled to had they stayed in their rural homes. By 2025, another 243 million rural migrants will join them, giving China an overall urban population of over 1 billion people. Geographer Kam Wing Chan observed that the number of workers moving long distances has steadily increased since the 1990s, with the majority moving to Guangdong Province, which some now call the “world’s factory,” and into the lower Chang Jiang region around Shanghai. 9.2a Courtesy Keren Su/China Span/Getty Images, 9.2b Courtesy Feng Li/Getty Images