The search for self and identity is often a difficult task for migrants. 'Who am I?' may not be an easy question for them to answer, it is rather a question for internalized self. But 'Who do I look like?' seems much easier for them to figure out. This thesis examines how a group of migrant women attempt to use consumption to re-construct their identity in urban China. Since China adopted the open door policy in the late 1970s, private consumption is no longer considered socially and politically undesirable behavior. A wide variety of material goods is readily obtainable for consumption. In addition to material consumption, non-material consumption also bourgeons in urban areas. Consumption places such as karaoke lounges, bars, discos, and massage parlors can easily be found throughout...[ Read more ]

The search for self and identity is often a difficult task for migrants. 'Who am I?' may not be an easy question for them to answer, it is rather a question for internalized self. But 'Who do I look like?' seems much easier for them to figure out. This thesis examines how a group of migrant women attempt to use consumption to re-construct their identity in urban China. Since China adopted the open door policy in the late 1970s, private consumption is no longer considered socially and politically undesirable behavior. A wide variety of material goods is readily obtainable for consumption. In addition to material consumption, non-material consumption also bourgeons in urban areas. Consumption places such as karaoke lounges, bars, discos, and massage parlors can easily be found throughout the whole China. This thesis discusses how the new consumption culture influences female migrant workers' life experiences as well as their identity construction.

Previous studies show that production, consumption, and identity are interrelated and influence the migrant women. However, most of these studies have focused on the migrant women working in manufacturing industries. To tackle these limitations, the present study places the attention on the female migrant workers in the service sector. Specifically, it investigates the booming massage industry and its female laborers in Shenzhen.

It is found that masseuses tend to occupy a marginalized position in society because of the violation of the job nature against the traditional image of proper Chinese women. They are often attached a stigma by the local government as well as society at large. Despite their vulnerable social position, these migrant workers do not accept the negative label passively. To try to contest against this social stigma, they redefine themselves as 'professional' or 'rational' workers. Nonetheless this self redefinition does not work as effectively because the voice of society often overpowers that of the migrant women. Rather, the very nature of this stigmatized occupation ironically allows these migrant women to be able to mask an undesirable identity with a desirable one. The frequent interactions with customers, particularly those from Hong Kong, offer the masseuses the opportunity to learn and to acquire sophisticated consumption practices, techniques, and tastes, with which they try to get rid of the identity of 'village girl' and to become a fashionable and sexy woman. By publicly presenting themselves as modem and urban consumers, they also try to hide the unwanted identity of masseuse.

The migrant women becoming modem and urban consumers, however, takes a "twin o thering p rocess". These women first " other" themselves from those in the rural areas after they learn the new consumption experiences in Shenzhen. Then, they a spire to become "Ms. Hong Kong" and f urther differentiate themselves from other girls in Shenzhen after they acquire from the workplace the Hong Kong style of consumption practices. These new consumption experiences enable the migrant women to negotiate their gender roles with the patriarchal values and order. For example, they acquire new values for 'sexuality' and redefine their bodylines through adopting new styles of fashion and clothing. Their work experiences in the massage parlors further change their traditional ideas about marriage. A new sense of 'individualism' emerges among these women that they now place greater importance on and care for themselves than the others.

However, in this study, it is also found that the "identity" is not a homogeneous entity. Rather, it is a very complex and differentiated project. Migrant women tend to develop different identities because of their diverse family backgrounds, personalities, and life experiences. These various identities in turn, influence their modes of thinking and attitudes towards life.

In sum, new consumption practices seem to take these women to a new era and to turn them into modem women. But is everything going according to these women's expectation? While these women seem to be contented with their imagined identity instead of a practical self, they pursue the identity of Ms. Hong Kong not for themselves, but for the Hong Kong men. It is thus doubtful whether consumption can really liberate migrant women or instead, lead them to fall prey of a different patriarchal order from the ones they have experienced in their rural hometowns and in Shenzhen.