The twelfth five-year plan (2011-2015) is testimony to central government’s wish to narrow the city-countryside gap. This political choice is in line with my analysis and the field research I carried out in the rural township of Danian (Guangxi province) in 2010. This article intends to analyze the link between migration and socio-economic changes in rural China. I first discuss my theoretical framework. Second, focusing my analysis on individual action and on my exploratory field research, I highlight the fact that rural migration to the cities has a real impact on rural socio-economic living conditions. Third, moving from micro to macro I show that, since 2000, the Chinese government has changed the direction of its national development policy by multiplying measures to improve rural life and to narrow the gap between living conditions in cities and rural areas. I conclude that the inhabitants of Danian have been able and continue to make the most of government measures, recently to their advantage, to implement migratory strategies that allow them to achieve their goals and contribute to the development of rural China.