Government and Policy

Beijing to limit migrants with enclosed management

By Wang Huazhong (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-07-06 07:56

BEIJING - Closed-off management, which has been implemented in some Beijing villages where migrant residents outnumber permanent residents, will be further promoted across the capital after the move received approval from both the country's top police official and the city's Party chief.

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Under such an enclosed management system, residents have to present their ID cards or temporary residence permits to get in and out of the villages. Boundary walls have been set up around the villages installed with surveillance cameras.

At present, 16 villages in Beijing's Daxing district are under such a pilot management scheme designed to improve security in the suburban areas, where a lot of migrant people reside.

But such an approach has also caused controversy, as some people consider it discriminative against the migrant population.

After an inspection tour over the weekend to Dashengzhuang, a village in Daxing district under the pilot scheme, Party secretary of Beijing Liu Qi said such an approach has "significantly slashed the crime rate and improved public order".

He urged the approach should be applied across the city, Xinhua News Agency reported.

"Management has to be strengthened when we strive to serve the floating population better," he was quoted as saying.

During the visit, Liu was told by a local police officer that the village has a floating population of 2,400 - seven times its permanent residents.

The officer said security was once a serious problem in the village, but such an enclosed management approach has greatly helped to improve public order.

Yang Guimei, a villager, said she can now park her bicycle on the street. "In the past, you would not find the bike an hour after you park it on the street," she said.

Minister of Public Security Meng Jianzhu, who also joined the inspection visit, acknowledged such a management system to bring down the crime rate as he stressed that "new difficulties" had emerged in urban management with an increase in the floating population.

Meng said the system is a "positive exploration and attempt" to address urban management difficulties, and hoped the district could implement the system further, according to Xinhua.

China had a floating population of 211 million as of 2009.