Freedom of Residence and Movement
The government has relocated more than 700,000 residents from the poorest areas within western China to newly-constructed residential centers since the Great Western Development (GWD) Campaign began in 2000, according to Du Ping, chief of the general affairs division of the Leading Group for the GWD Campaign. Du announced the figures at the Second International Study Conference on the GWD Campaign on June 21. Government agencies are moving residents from areas with limited prospects for development to residential centers with full access to social services, Du reported. U.S. sources report, however, that many of the poor are forced to move and have not received adequate compensation.
Local regulations must conform to the Constitution and national law, concludes a commentary in the Hong Kong edition of the China Daily. The commentary takes aim at a new Dalian city regulation that prohibits begging in many parts of the city, citing objections on both policy and legal grounds.
To increase public awareness of the importance of water conservation, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announced plans to raise the price of water again in Beijing, from 3.7 to 4.5 yuan per cubic meter, according to Chinese news reports (1, 2). The government has kept the price of water in China artificially low, likely because of fears that higher prices will lead to social unrest, according to some Western experts.
Official claims that the government has recovered virtually all amounts owed to migrant workers for the year 2003 and before were challenged by migrant workers recounting their personal circumstances in a Beijing News interview published May 26. Some government reports boast very high rates of recovery of wage arrears – for example, the Chinese government announced in an April 21 Xinhua article that it had retrieved 99 percent of the total officially-known migrant worker arrears before 2003. But the construction workers interviewed in the Beijing News article said that the high settlement rate is hard to believe. Most workers, they said, only received part of their back pay. One worker had to beg for his past wages, which were as much as four months overdue. Another worker said that workers encounter three types of government attitudes when trying to collect back pay.
Eight Shenzhen residents who hold temporary residence permits have been elected to the municipal local people's congress (LPC), according to a May 2 Beijing News article. LPCs are legislative bodies with membership chosen through elections commonly subject to Party interference. Although LPC power is limited, the addition of migrant representatives to these bodies does represent an improvement in the field of migrant rights.
In China, an individual's hukou (residence permit) identification is linked to voting rights and the ability to stand for election. This linkage has limited the representation of migrants in China's urban legislative bodies, even when the migrants are established and hold temporary residence permits. Shenzhen appears to be one of a few localities experimenting with progressive changes aimed at addressing this problem.
The crime rate among migrant youth in one central Shanghai district rose 144 percent from 2003 to 2004, according to an April 25 article in the Liberation Daily. The author alleges that migrant youth were responsible for 66.3 percent of all crimes by adolescents in the district between 2000 to 2004. Another district posted similar percentages between 2002 and 2005. According to the article, experts explain that migrants lack the three protections against juvenile delinquency: family, school, and society. The article proposes three solutions to the problem: setting up a temporary guardian system for migrant youth, with a gathering place for recreational and educational activities; cracking down on the adult criminals who often draw migrant youth into criminal behavior; and enforcing the rule that employing units must control their workforces.
The “scale” of urban demolition and relocation “decreased by 40%” in 2004 and haphazard, large-scale demolition and construction practices have begun to come under control, according to a Southern Metropolitan Daily report. It is unclear if the 40% figure refers to the area subject to demolition, the number of residents affected, or simply the number of demolition sites. The article trumpets efforts to control urban demolitions and resulting problems through new notification, hearing, and appeal systems; better compensation management; enhanced supervision of demolition and appraisal units; and the construction of affordable housing. According to the report, during 2005, the government plans to hold the scale of demolition and relocation at 2004 levels.
The city of Qingdao now requires developers to reach agreement with at least 95 percent of affected residents to obtain a demolition and construction permit. According to a report in the Beijing News, the Qingdao government issued a regulation last month detailing the requirement. The new regulation also reportedly requires developers to post public notice of demolition plans and solicit opinions from local residents before beginning demolition.
A group of 150 farmers from Hongqiao village, Jiangsu province, has won an administrative lawsuit against the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR). According to China Daily and Xinhua reports, a Beijing court ruled March 18 that the MLR must review its approval of a Wuxi city decision to requisition the farmers’ land. The farmers allege the land seizure was unlawful because the land was used for commercial purposes. Last July, they appealed to the MLR for reconsideration of its decision to approve the land seizure, but the MLR rejected the appeal on technical grounds, arguing that it was not submitted within the legally prescribed time. In late 2004, the farmers filed suit in the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court to compel the MLR to consider their appeal.