A senior government consultant has suggested a massive
"west-to-east" migration campaign to speed up China's urbanization
process.
Zhou Ganzhi, a leading adviser with the Ministry of
Construction, told China Daily that the migration of up to
100 million western farmers from western regions to economically
developed eastern urban areas is feasible.
"It is a strategy which makes things easier for both sides,"
said Zhou.
The migration can guarantee an ample labor supply for the
further economic development of eastern regions. Meanwhile,
development pressure can be reduced in economically and
ecologically fragile western areas because of the drop in
population.
The migrants are expected to settle mainly in the three city
belts of the Pearl River and Yangtze River deltas and the
Beijing-Tianjin area, Zhou said while attending the China city and
town development forum over the weekend.
China, with a population of about 1.3 billion, has about 220
million surplus laborers in rural areas and most of them live in
the central and western regions.
Zhou, also a former vice-minister of construction, said he will
lead a team to conduct more detailed research work on the strategy,
which will help people in the nation's western and eastern regions
enjoy a more balanced development.
Peng Zhenwei, a professor at Shanghai's Tongji
University agreed with the feasibility of Zhou's
suggestion.
"But we need more work," said Peng. "We should first conduct
research on the maximum number of people who should be allowed to
settle in those cities."
He said this will be a tough job as, so far, no specialists in
China have been working on population research in the city
belts.
About 40 million, 70 million and 45 million residents
respectively live in China's three urban belts, in the Pearl River
and Yangtze River deltas and the Beijing-Tianjin area.
"But in reality, such migration has already begun," said
Peng.
Thousands of college graduates from western regions are working
in eastern cities, despite some of them having no household
registration there.
Meanwhile, up to 50 million rural surplus laborers are earning
money outside their own provinces and most of them are working in
eastern regions.
Experts said household registration in eastern regions should
cover graduates and farmers-turned-workers as soon as possible.
"In addition, our suggesting migration does not mean ignoring
western development," said Peng.
He said big cities, such as the provincial capitals of Xi'an and
Kunming, and urban belts such as Chengdu-Chongqing, should play a
bigger role as regional centers and attract more farmers.
(China Daily December 8, 2003)