Long-distance parenting and child caregivling services of rural-urban migration in china : the case studies in hechi city, guangxi zhuang autonomous region

Abstract

This thesis examines how caregiving is understood and practiced within diverse family arrangements shaped by rural–urban migration and the closure of rural schools in China. Drawing on qualitative case studies from the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the study explores long-distance parenting practices and the role of child caregiving services in supporting migrating children. Situated within debates on welfare provision and the growing commodification of care, the research highlights how Chinese parents increasingly rely on private caregiving services while negotiating culturally embedded meanings of parental responsibility and care. Guided by three research questions, this study investigates: (1) how parents practice long-distance parenting under conditions of rural–urban migration; (2) how parents define and perceive caregiving provided by child caregiving services; and (3) how caregiving services in urban areas understand their caregiving roles and delivercare to migrating children. Using in-depth interviews, the study includes parents from nine families, categorized into two groups: parents who remain in rural areas while their children attend urban schools and live in caregiving services, and migrant parents who work in urban areas while leaving their children in caregiving services. In addition, six caregivers from caregiving services participated in the research, including teachers, managers, and full-time caregivers. The findings show that parents practice long-distance parenting through a combination of economic provision, digital communication, emotional support, and coordination with caregivers, reflecting a form of distributed parenting rather than parental withdrawal. Parents define caregiving services as essential support that enables them to fulfill parental responsibilities, particularly in education and daily supervision, in the absence of extended family members. Caregiving services, meanwhile, perform a dual role as both private service providers and emotional caregivers, forming affective relationships with children while operating within market-based arrangements. These caregiving dynamics reveal blurred boundaries between formal and informal care, shaped by trust, economic constraints, and Confucian moral values. The study contributes to understanding how caregiving is reorganized at the intersection of migration, parenting, and marketization, demonstrating that the commodification of caregiving in China does not replace parental responsibility but restructures how care is delivered within distributed family systems.