Happy city for everyone: Generational differences in rural migrant workers’ leisure in urban China

Everyday leisure creates opportunities for migrant–local encounters and these encounters play important roles in urban migrants’ lives as they further their integration into the city. However, migrant workers are not homogeneous, with prominent identifiable differences between generations. This current paper analyses migrant workers’ leisure patterns and constraints in Guangzhou, China, with a particular focus on generational differences. Based on survey data collected in 2018, we have identified three leisure patterns, namely Transformed (i.e., higher leisure consumption and longer travelled distance for leisure), Prolonged (i.e., longer leisure time) and Traditional (i.e., lower leisure consumption, shorter leisure time and shorter travelled distance). In addition, significant generational differences are observed: first, while the Transformed Pattern is predisposed to be the new generation’s choice, almost half of the first generation retains the Traditional pattern; second, the first generation tends to report more substantial leisure constraints subjectively, but their leisure patterns are contrarily more affected by objective constraint indicators, such as gender, working hours, living with family members and residential location. The new generation is more influenced by subjective constraint indicators such as their attitude towards leisure, lack of like-minded companions or mobility choices. This study contributes to the extant literature by offering a typology of leisure patterns considering multiple dimensions of leisure behaviours, and further revealing the diversification of migrant workers’ leisure life in the dynamic urban context. Findings suggest that the two generations may value leisure differently, indicating inevitable lifestyle changes of the newcomers in Chinese cities. Our findings may also provide some suggestions for policymakers.