Kaleidoscope visualisation of China’s internal migration, 1985–2020

Abstract

In migration networks, the origin-destination (OD) bilateral flows and each site’s in- and outflow volumes are like two sides of the same coin; though popular visualisation approaches such as the chord diagram excel in describing the former, the latter mostly remains less depicted aspect. By applying the Voronoi-based migration Kaleidoscope diagram and integrating it with the sunburst treemap, the article visualises China’s interprovincial migration from 1985 to 2020 with the latest data and focalises on the relative status of each migration body as origin or destination. By attributing different colours to China’s four economic-geographical regions and differentiating in- and outflows with deep and light shades, information about each province’s weight in the migration network is gained from their size in the diagrams, and variable as well as invariable patterns are observed from the trends. Possible social and economic causes in shaping the diagrams are discussed, and the potential for the migration Kaleidoscope pertaining to other migration data is examined.