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January 17th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
In the 12 months from December 2010 to December 2011, a further 21 million
arrived in cities – more than the population of Sri Lanka – while rural
inhabitants dropped, the statistics show.
Many of those settling down in urban areas are migrant workers – people moving
from the country to cities to seek economic empowerment.
This transient population of cheap labour, put at nearly 221 million by a
national census last April, helped turn China into the world’s
second-largest economy in just three decades.
Months following the consensus, another government report said more than 100
million farmers would move to cities by 2020.
The influx is seen as having a destabilising effect on urban society,
according to experts.
Government policy has failed to keep up with what some observers call the
economic and social reality.
Most migrant workers are treated as lower-class citizens in their adopted
towns or cities because they are still classified as rural residents under
the controversial – and to many, outdated – Hukou household registration
system.
The Hukou is the registration paper or residency permit which ties a migrant
worker to his or her home town. This means they can only receive benefits
back in their home town, and not in the cities where they go for work.
This means they have little or no social security, including access to
education for their children, health and other welfare provisions.
However, expectations are growing – especially among young migrant workers who
are demanding higher wagers and living standards similar to their middle
class neighbours.
Worryingly for Beijing, this perceived urban apartheid is a main source of
social unrest.
Also fanning discontent is what some view as a vicious circle drawn by flawed
government planning, official corruption and lack of social justice because
of a questionable legal system.
Many migrant workers are forced to settle in the cities because their farms
have been sold off during land grabs to make way for more urbanisation.
Peng Xizhe, Professor of Demography at Fudan University, told The Daily
Telegraph opinion is divided over whether to expand existing big cities or
build new, smaller urban zones.
“We’ve been arguing for three decades about how best to implement
urbanisation. In the years ahead, intelligent, smaller scale city planning
will be crucial to better manage resources,” he said.
“The government also realises this is important if it is to avoid
polarisation among residents,” he added.
Gridlocked Beijing and Shanghai, which have a combined population of over 45
million, are planning to contain the increase of their populations.
But policy is inconsistent, with other metropolises encouraging migration.
Official figures show the rate of urbanisation has gathered pace over the past
decades.
Only one in five people lived in cities in 1982.
By 1990, urban dwellers represented 26 per cent of the total population – a
figure that rose to 36 per cent in 2000 and jumped faster over the next
decade to reach 51.27 per cent.
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