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Shanghai new residency policy draws complaints

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-24 22:32

SHANGHAI: China's biggest city began taking applications Wednesday from non-Shanghainese seeking permanent residency, a first step in a reform that has angered natives who say the city already is too crowded and others who complain the rules are too restrictive.

The aim of the reforms, officials say, is to make it easier for Chinese from other parts of the country to enjoy the same rights and social benefits as Shanghai natives. Initially, though, city officials say only 3,000 of Shanghai's vast transient population likely qualified for permanent residency.

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The issue has dredged up perennial resentments between city natives and "waidi people" or outsiders. And it underscores the challenges China faces in distributing scarce resources as the country of 1.3 billion undergoes rapid urbanization.

Shanghai is one of China's wealthiest cities and has a population of about 20 million people. But only about 13 million living here are permanent residents holding the Shanghai "hukou," or household registration certificates, that give them access to the best schools and social services. According to the latest estimates, the transient population, which is constantly changing, is about 6 million.

For decades, China has restrained migration by linking access to low-cost public services such as health care and education, among other rights, to the place where a person's hukou is registered.

With more than half of all mainland Chinese now living in cities, with or without residency rights, and many millions on the move as they search for jobs, pressure for reforms is building.

Shanghai's new regulations allow non-Shanghainese to qualify for permanent residency if they have held a temporary residency certificate for seven years. About 270,000 hold such certificates, city officials said. But most have not held them for seven years, and only a small fraction of them meet all the other requirements.

Applicants must also prove they are taxpayers with a good credit rating, no criminal record and no violations of family-planning rules. In addition, they must have educational and professional qualifications.

"I may as well forget it," said Liu Zhejian, who left his family back in central China's Henan province six years ago to find work here as a deliveryman.

"There's no point in me getting a Shanghai hukou. I'm never going to get rid of my Henan accent and I certainly can't move my whole family here," he said.

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