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Shenzhen to become 1st city without farmer
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-07-02 14:20 On the morning of June 29, Shenzhen city
government decided that by Oct. 31 this year, all the registered permanent
residents will be changed into city dwellers, and the former collective-owned
land will be nationalized.
Shenzhen will thus become China's first city without village and farmer. The
above decision was announced at the "Urbanization Experiment in Bao'an and
Longgang Districts & Popularization and Mobilization Meeting" which was held
that same morning.
In 1993, Shenzhen expanded its special zone scope, and started the first
urbanization process, however, Bao'an and Longgang districts retained both urban
and rural patterns in its management system and mechanism. According to initial
estimations, currently Shenzhen has about 2,000 villages, over 200 of which are
within the zone, and there are 300,000 private houses within the zone.
Ten years have passed, today on the basis of summarizing the urbanization
experimental work in Bao'an and Longgang districts, the Shenzhen city government
has made this decision: As of July this year, the urbanization work of these two
districts will be carried out in an all-round way; by Oct. 31, all the towns
under the rural organization system in the two districts will become subdistrict
offices, and villagers' committees will be changed into neighborhood committees,
and the current 270,000 farmers will all turned into urban residents.
The Shenzhen city government on June 29 also promulgated "Measures for the
Administration of the Urbanized Land in Bao'an and Longgang": after all the
members of the two districts' collective economic organizations are changed into
urban residents, the originally collective-owned land that belonged to the
members will be nationalized; government departments in charge should carry out
unified planning for the land involved, and strictly control its use;
appropriate compensation should be granted by stages and in batches to units or
economic organizations and individuals succeeding the two districts'
collective-owned organizations.
Shenzhen's bold move bolsters farmers' rights
Rural residents of
Shenzhen are suddenly the envy of their countryside cousins in the rest of
China. Under China's household registration system, being a rural resident or an
urban dweller means a world of difference, said a commentary by China Daily.
Compared to their urban peers, rural residents receive few, if any, social
benefits offered by the government.
Being branded a rural resident means no access to pension, healthcare and
other social security and welfare services, which are privileges enjoyed only by
urban residents, although all Chinese citizens are equal in constitutional
terms.
When it comes to infrastructure, however, governments at all levels are
engaged in a race against time to modernize. Thus the emphasis has always been
on cities. In contrast, little has been spent on the vast under-developed rural
areas.
The heavily-skewed focus on cities and neglect of the countryside has
resulted in a so-called dual-structured society in China in which the
urban-rural divide is growing.
That is why getting an urban identity has remained high on most rural
residents' wish lists.
Calls for bridging the urban-rural divide and giving equal rights to rural
residents have been growing in recent years and progress of varying degrees has
been scored in different places.
Shenzhen's move, to instantly transform 270,000 rural residents into urban
dwellers, is the boldest and most comprehensive.
With their new status those rural residents will be entitled to the same
treatments as their urban cousins, including access to social welfares that have
long been denied them.
A change on such scale is no doubt a mammoth burden on local finance. Beyond
that, the city will have to provide adequate jobs for those farmers once their
land is taken back into State hands or help them adjust to the new urban life.
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