Moving from a metropolis to a smaller city? The continuous mobility and adulthood transition of well-educated rural migrants in interior China

Neoliberal globalisation has extended its influence to interior regions as new sites for Capital accumulation, yet youth studies have largely overlooked the experiences and subjective formation of young migrants who relocate from metropolitan centres to these areas. This paper addresses this gap by examining Chinese rural young adults who first migrate from their home village to major cities for education and employment, and later move to a smaller interior city for settlement. Drawing on ethnographic research in Xiaogan, a prefecture-level city in interior China, the study explores how the interplay between familism, neoliberal discourse of subjectivity, and socioeconomic restructuring – driven by the increased investments in peripheral areas – shapes young people's aspirations and migration strategies. The findings reveal that well-educated rural migrants' transition to adulthood and subjectivity formation involve ongoing migration to construct their future selves in relation to urban middle-class ideals and family expectations. While rapid urbanisation and improved public services in smaller cities facilitate smoother transitions to adulthood, these cities' subordinate positions within China's spatial hierarchy present dilemmas in migratory decision-making. The analysis highlights the ambivalent status of interior cities within neoliberal investment politics and their influence on mobile youth's subjectivity and adulthood transitions in the globalised economy.