The census in China... What do they know that Steven Harper doesn't -- probably a very great deal as a matter of fact and they are looking to learn a great deal more...
M -----Original Message----- Sent: Saturday, December 18, 2010 6:37 PM To: Michael Gurstein Subject: SCMP article / Dec.18th edition Rights of passage There is hope China's latest census will lead to policies that redress the inequality suffered by millions of migrant workers Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore [South China Morning Post] Dec 18, 2010 When the census-takers knocked on Pan Shiyu's door last month, the 29-year-old rural migrant was happy to let them in. "I took the census in Shenzhen," she says. "I didn't try to hide anything." Pan hopes China's once-a-decade national census will to help migrants avoid the dire straits she faced last summer. Then penniless and desperate to treat her sick child, she stood at the entrance of a hospital in Shenzhen with a note pinned to her back. On it she scrawled: "I want to sell my kidney to save my baby." Fortunately, a charity worker found her before any damage was done. China is witnessing the largest migration in the history of mankind, a phenomenon that is in the spotlight today, on International Migrants Day. The country's liudong renkou or "floating population" now numbers about 211 million people but will soar to 350 million by 2050, according to a recent government report. The millions of rural migrants offering cheap labour in mainland cities have helped fuel rapid economic growth, but they also suffer severe social inequality. The desperation that led Pan to the hospital entrance is one example of this dislocation. Her one-year-old baby - born out of wedlock to a married man who disappeared soon after his son's birth - does not have a hukou (the national household registration) as Pan has not yet officially registered him with the authorities. "My parents will not register the baby in my hometown in Hunan. Besides paying the fine of over 10,000 yuan [HK$11,600 for a child born to unmarried parents according to the regional one-child policy rules], they are also unwilling because they are very conservative." Without a hukou her child cannot attend a public kindergarten, receive vaccinations or use a public hospital. With a different set of rules for rural and urban residents, migrants and their children (who inherit their parents' hukou) are not eligible for social welfare - including low-income housing and education - in cities, creating a two-tiered class system. Pan is not alone in her high hopes for the census. Li Tianfu, 42, sells oranges outside a busy subway station in central Beijing. Li's business is illegal; because he only has a rural hukou he is unable to obtain the government-issued permit for city residents. However, he sees the census as a good thing. "It helps the government know how many people there are in China, which is needed to make new policies and control the population." To obtain data on the largest populace on earth has been a mammoth task. For China's sixth national census more than five million census collectors were mobilised in a campaign that has cost at least eight billion yuan. For Dong Shuling, 48, a volunteer census collector in Beijing, taking part in the nationwide event was a chance to "make my life fuller". Sporting a natty purple-tinged haircut, pink lip gloss and mauve eye-shadow, the supermarket worker says she wants to "serve the country and do something meaningful". But, despite the best intentions, collecting accurate data is tough. A fellow census-collector, 52-year-old retiree Tang Guiying, says many of the 120 families she interviewed were wary. "Although we wrote letters to guarantee that we would keep everything secret, some people refused to believe us. We sometimes went over 10 times for each entry." The government expects a two per cent margin of error (representing about 26.7 million people), but others are more sceptical. Yin Chia, a communications manager for Compassion for Migrant Children, non-profit organisation, believes an accurate count is a "challenge". A 2007 academic forum on the subject held in Beijing illustrates the point. "Between the professors they couldn't decide on whether there were 150 or 250 million migrants here. But how do you lose 100 million people?" To encourage honest reporting, the authorities pledged incentives such as reducing fines for migrants who break the one-child policy; still, a third of respondents in an online poll on sina.com said they felt uncomfortable allowing census collectors into their homes. Wei Wei, founder of the grass-roots migrant workers' charity Little Bird, has received calls from parents facing fines of up to 20,000 yuan for having another child illegally. For such people, he says, there are "plenty of ways to avoid being found. For example, not opening the door or going travelling. This is the advantage of being mobile". Li Zhiguo, 46, a construction worker in a transport hub in west Beijing, agrees. "Can the Chinese census get close to any real data? It's hard to get facts in the countryside," he says. Li shares a dorm room on a subway construction site with nine workers. Garbage and bowls of old food are piled up by the single radiator, there are no mattresses, and sacks are used as pillows. A poster of a Chinese girl winning an Olympic medal is stuck above one bunk-bed, where a pink duvet decorated with teddy bears sits scrunched and covered in dirt. Earning 3,000 yuan a month - and enjoying benefits from his company - Li considers himself lucky, despite not having returned to his farm and family in Shandong province for three consecutive Lunar New Year holidays. Still, hope remains that the census will yield more equitable government policies. In March, 13 Chinese newspapers united in an unprecedented call for reform of the hukou system. "We believe people are born free and should have the right to migrate freely, but citizens are still troubled by bad policies born in the era of the planned economy and [now] unsuitable." In June, Premier Wen Jiabao pledged that the government would view migrants "as their own children". "The government is moving in the right direction," says Judy Shen, president of the migrant charity CAI. "I'm optimistic that with more information they can understand the magnitude of these issues and start looking at potential solutions. Without a snapshot of what the population looks like it's going to be hard for them to come up with any policies that are well directed." In Beijing and Shanghai moves are being introduced to better integrate rural migrants into the city. A pilot programme in Shanghai is enrolling children into public or government-subsidised schools. Chongqing is also testing a scheme which will see 1.2 million rural migrants registered for an urban hukou within the next two years. Results from the census won't be released until next year, and policy changes perhaps even later. For the moment, Pan has only one hope: "That they will help our kids." _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
