Beijing to step up eviction of outside workers

Asian Economic News, April 5, 1999

BEIJING, April 1 Kyodo Beijing city authorities plan to step up eviction of millions of itinerant residents who have flocked to the capital to seek employment, Chinese media reported Thursday. Supervision of housing rented by Beijing's 2.9 million temporary residents will be strengthened in a move to cut back their numbers to 1.5 million by next year, the state-run China Daily reported.

Landlords renting housing illegally to those not holding city residency permits will be barred from renting their property for three years, the report added. A 5,000-strong team supervising the city's transient population will be expanded with the addition of 7,000 more officers, the newspaper said. The city government is worried about the burden placed on Beijing's infrastructure by the expanding transient population, one million of whom are unemployed, according to the newspaper. A large part of Beijing's service sector is staffed by outside workers, ranging from garbage collectors to karaoke hostesses. While some Beijingers appreciate the itinerant workers' willingness to perform jobs they avoid, others blame the ''waidi'' (outside place) residents as being responsible for the bulk of the city's crime. ''After all, they come to this city for nothing but money,'' Zhang Keqing, a municipal government official, was quoted as saying in the China Daily. ''They come here in even bigger numbers only because they find money is easier to earn here than in their home towns or other cities,'' Zhang was quoted as saying. Zhang suggests reducing the city's transient population by increasing the monthly charges for Beijing residency permits from 15 yuan (1.81 dollars) to between 30 and 50 yuan, the newspaper said.