From A Migrant Worker Sees Rural Home In a New Light:
Homecomings may be happy, but they also highlight the rapid changes in Chinese society that can lead to clashes and discord. In the countryside, a family eats and farms together and sleeps in one big bed. Older people, especially men, traditionally make decisions. The eldest children discipline younger ones, and younger ones obey. Guests visit unannounced and stay for days, easily absorbed into communal routines. There are no secrets in village life, and interactions between any two villagers are predetermined according to the kinship ties between them.In cities, this way of life is already dead. In the countryside, migration is putting an end to it. Young people return home with modern ideas and money — and secrets from a city life their parents don’t understand. They have lived among strangers, competed for jobs and promotions, and dated whom they pleased. The village can’t easily take them back.
For example:
In village homes it is common to throw trash, put out cigarettes and spit on the floor. Every so often, someone sweeps up the mess and dumps it in the yard. Min put a plastic bag in the corner of the room and ordered her parents and three younger siblings to dispose of garbage there instead.