CPPCC members propose curbs on migrants

Members of a key political advisory committee suggested Thursday that Shanghai curb its rapidly growing migrant population as natives of other provinces are expected to make up half of the city's population by 2020.

The Shanghai Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) made the suggestion because they are concerned that the rapidly growing migrant population will become too much of a drag on the city's resources.

The local government estimated that Shanghai's migrant population will grow 5 percent each year, reaching 14 million by 2020.

As of June, Shanghai has a migrant population of about 9.8 million, accounting for about 40 percent of the total population, according to Gu Yuedi, vice director of the population management office of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau.

Shanghai has been attracting residents from other regions because of its migrant-friendly education and health policies, said Chai Junyong, a CPPCC member. "When the first generation of migrants came to Shanghai, they came here for job," Chai said. "Then they started to bring their children. Now, they are coming because they want their children to be educated here."

In 2008, Shanghai launched a three-year campaign to provide migrant children with a free education. Because of that policy, the city became the first city in China to allow all of its more than 470,000 migrant children to receive nine years of compulsory education in 2010.

CPPCC member Li Fenhua suggested that Shanghai could better control the growth of its migrant population by adjusting the city's industrial structure to phase out labor intensive industries. "We cannot leave the migrant population to grow out of control," Li said.

Minhang district has already adopted a similar policy. In 2006, the district began shutting down labor-intensive businesses. Its migrant population's average annual growth rate from 2006 to 2010 fell by 11 percent compared with the period from 2001 to 2005, according to Wu Peigen, vice head of the Minhang district government.