Guangdong Province has replaced central China's Henan as the most shortage that has been plaguing Guangdong for several months. populous province in the country, with the population hitting 110 million.

The figure includes 79 million registered permanent residents and 31 million migrants who have lived in Guangdong for more than six months.

A substantial portion of the increase is attributable to migrants, many of whom are registered residents of Henan and Sichuan -- two of the country's most populous areas -- who have moved to Guangdong in recent years looking for work.

The number of migrants continues to grow substantially. In January, the Guangdong Provincial Labor and Social Security Bureau lifted a 1995 ban on hiring workers in the month following the Lunar New Year, a rule originally imposed to control the huge influx of migrant workers.

Labor bureau official Zhang Xiang said the move would ease the labor

The Guangzhou Railway Station, in the provincial capital, reported that about 50,000 passengers arrived in the city every day from the beginning of the holiday peak period on January 25. The figure was an increase of 10,000 compared with the same period in preceding years.

The labor shortage may be assuaged, but the province's public security department is feeling the heat.

In 2004, over 510,000 criminal cases were recorded at the Guangdong Provincial Department of Public Security, according to Director Liang Guoju. About 80 percent of the offenses were committed by migrants, he stated.

The ratio of police officers to population is 12.9 to 10,000 in Guangdong, already lower than those of Beijing and Shanghai. But the increase in police force size is not keeping up with population growth.

Increased numbers of people put pressure on education, employment and health care as well as on public security, affecting the area's stability and growth in a number of ways.

Yu Senquan, an officer of the Guangdong Provincial Family Planning Commission, said they could not stop the migrants from entering Guangdong, but they can control the population by family planning.

Yu said if a couple has more than one child, they will be fined in accordance with their income. Generally, fines are levied at three times the family's total income in the previous year. The policy applies equally to migrants and registered residents.

Yu said the commission will do more to control the population in 2005.

(China Daily February 16, 2005)