There have been two generations of migrant workers since China adopted the policy of reform and opening to the world. The first generation of workers, born during the 1950s and 1960s, entered China's cities in the 1980sor early 1990s;the second generation, born in the 1980s, swarmed China's urban areas in the late 1990s. Those who were born in the 1970s were regarded as the transitional generation. Now, with the first generation of migrant workers returning to their hometowns, the " new generation" has become the mainstream of manual laborers in urban China. Their jobs have nothing to do with farmland, and they are not as thrifty and enduring as their forefathers. Also, they are not willing to return to the countryside, nor are they able to establish roots in the urban areas.