Drum Tower: Competing for kids

<p>China’s decades-long economic boom was powered by workers who migrated from the countryside to cities to find jobs. But to do so, many of them had to leave their children behind. Now some cities are vying to <a href="https://www.economist.com/china/2023/12/14/chinas-cities-compete-for-kids?utm_campaign=a.io&amp;utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&amp;utm_source=drumtower&amp;utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&amp;utm_term=sa.listeners" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">attract migrant workers' children</a>.&nbsp;</p><br /><p>Zhejiang province is piloting an experimental policy which should make it easier for migrants to bring their children with them to cities and send them to school. David Rennie, our Beijing bureau chief, and Alice Su, our senior China correspondent, examine Yiwu, a city in Zhejiang that has enacted this policy.</p><br /><p><br /></p><p><em>Sign up for a </em><a href="https://subscribenow.economist.com/podcasts-plus?purchaseRedirect=economist.com/audio/podcasts/onboarding?podcast=babbage" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>free trial</em></a><em> of Economist Podcasts+. If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our </em><a href="https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/What-is-Economist-Podcasts" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>FAQs page</em></a><em> or watch </em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48TlDbL-4vU" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>our video</em></a><em> explaining how to link your account.</em></p><br /><p><br /></p><hr /><p style="color: grey; font-size: 0.75em;"> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: grey;" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>