Olympics are no treat for Beijing’s illegal workers

For most inhabitants of Beijing, the long-awaited Olympics are a unique opportunity for rejoicing and pride. Yet for the city's numerous illegal workers, the Games are tantamount to a threat of expulsion.

One of our Observers in the Chinese capital stumbled upon the arrest of a street hawker. Though he was himself handled roughly by the police, he managed to take a few pictures and post them on his blog.

With crowds of street hawkers a familiar site in the streets of Beijing, this man's arrest probably had something to do with the ongoing crackdown on illegal workers. About one quarter of the city's population does not hold the residence permits required to live in the Chinese capital. While authorities used to turn a blind-eye on these illegal workers, this is no longer the case during major events such as the Olympics.

"Whenever a major event occurs,(...) there will be a new round-up."

Jean-François Huchet is in charge of the Hong Kong-based French Centre for Studies on Contemporary China (CEFC).

I don't know in what context these pictures were taken, so it's difficult to comment on them and determine why this salesman was arrested and not another.

For the past two months, Chinese police have been evacuating anyone caught without a hukou, the residence permit granted to the city's inhabitants at birth. If a Chinese citizen is born in a region deemed to be rural, he is not allowed to hold the hukou required to reside in Beijing.

Some people from the countryside can benefit from a temporary permit if they're working on a specific project. Over the past year, this has been particularly the case with construction workers drafted in to build hotels and Olympic sites. Yet, once the permit expires, these temporary migrants are required to return home or face the threat of expulsion. With the Olympics approaching, local authorities went so far as to expel foreign students.

The street hawkers we see in the pictures may not qualify as residents, which could explain why one of them was arrested. If that's the case, the migrant was sent to a detention centre. This phenomenon has been widely criticised by international human rights groups of late.

This system is partly a fiction since all major Chinese cities host a fluctuating migrant population. Out of Beijing's 9 to 10 million inhabitants, between 2 and 3 million do not hold a full residence permit. This population is mostly located in the poorer neighbourhoods, as many of them live on petty jobs.

There will be more tolerance and less controls once the Olympics are over. Indeed, in normal times this population plays an important social role by taking the jobs local residents are unwilling to perform, as is the case in certain trades and small services such as housecleaning. Hence, they are set to return.

Still, whenever a major event occurs, such as a congress of the Chinese Communist Party, there will be a new round-up."

التعليقات

I could have snap photos in

نشره Cal (لم يتم التحقق) يوم سبت, 30/08/2008 - 10:15.

I could have snap photos in Paris during the riot and accuse the French government racist.

I could have snap photos of police beating up people in San Francisco during anti-war demonstration and accuse the US government brutality.

The authors' reporting is biased and is flawed; they use too much generalizations that based on questionable reasoning.

Anonyme

I just want to know what is

نشره Unregistered user (لم يتم التحقق) يوم ثلاثاء, 26/08/2008 - 07:10.

I just want to know what is the story behind the pictures. Why did the writer put them in this article?

Anonyme

this man is not country worker

نشره joy chao (لم يتم التحقق) يوم خميس, 21/08/2008 - 04:36.

this man is not country worker for sure. any person who live in beijing or other cities in china can tell that. even the foreigners. and there is no 'illegal workers' in china by defination for home chinese. that word is only for the smugglers or the foreigners who have no valid working visa in china. this is a commen sense, same to other countries in the world. the country workers are allowed to work in anywhere in china, they headed home just because most of the constructions in beijing have been finished or postponed due to the olympic games.

news should be based on truth. that is the basic principle for journalist. people or receiver of the information has the right to know the truth. as a journalist, please don't fake anything in your favour or give out wrong info to viewers or audience when you yourself are not even sure about it. please at least ask somebody on the spot what really happened to the man, then make your judgement. i think that is also a kind of respect to your job and yourself.

Anonyme

You're right Joy Chao.

نشره Laurent Le G... يوم خميس, 21/08/2008 - 04:54.

I just want to add that, actually, the pictures work against the article and make it sounds false. It is too bad because there is some truth is this article, as I add in my previous comment.
The best.

Anonyme

Please pay attention to your comments

نشره Laurent Le G... يوم خميس, 21/08/2008 - 04:23.

I'm disappointed in both your comments, as they are a bit off the subject. "He looked like a sex offender to me", "his wired look", "a wrong-sex behaviour person", you should both work for the CIA, for you are very skilled to pick up the truth from only few pictures. The guy in those pictures, I agree with both of you, is certainly not a worker from the country-side but please show me where in the post it is tell so ? You criticize this article for things you are the only to say ! Anyway, this post just tells us that any person who doesn't hold the Beijing's Hukou during the Olympic Games (OG), except for officials, rich people or most of the students or people who works here (I add this), may not stay in the city. This can be confirmed by any Beijing citizens. I live in a relatively poor quarter of Beijing and I can say that all the workers who used to work in my street (bicycle repairman...) have simply disappeared just before the OG. At it is said in the article, they will probably come back after the OG. I guess that they didn't all willingly left and that the police has to insist (just a guess). The Hukou is really, I think, not a good thing in this country, as it discriminates people. Finally when Cindy Benson says "China never be a police country", I answer we don't live in the same country, or just come to visit Beijing.
Thanks.

Anonyme

He is not a country man!

نشره cindy benson (لم يتم التحقق) يوم أربعاء, 20/08/2008 - 22:47.

No country man would be arrested on the street in China, do not tell a joke just like Junor, W.Bush is going to marry his State Scretarary. I agree with zhen, as I know, China never be a police country. Look that man's fine shoes and sockes, certainly a country man in China would not wear a fine short sleeves white shirt and a light coloured pants.( I have built a house which is the UNICO project in China two year ago, so I know Chinese country workers very well. I think he must be a picker-poket, or, like you said , a wrong-sex behaviour person. I heared a story, Chinese hate those people who insulte woman in public very much, noramly they will beat them on the site. Also how do we know those people who are holding that man are police men？ you must be very clever to know they are police, to me they are like civillins.

Anonyme

The man looked like a sex offender to me

نشره zhen zhen (لم يتم التحقق) يوم أربعاء, 20/08/2008 - 22:33.

He looked like a sex offender to me. There is a country woman just walking close to the site, also some of country men stoped watching the event. this man has been arressted certainly is not a country man according to his cloth and sun-glasses, also not a nice man I could tell by his wired look. Many country men went home because the building projects stopped before the Game. Also the countryside now have much better life quality than before- no income tax for the country people who is working with algriculture. In the remote area there was subsidery for every family, perticularly in Tibet and Mongulia areas.
At the beginning of October, when the Paralympic finished, all the workers will be back to Beijing, certainly less than before, because there wouldn't be as much work as before Olympic, most projects have finished.

Anonyme