Strangers in the city

Walking through the bustling night bazaars in the Lengquan village in northwest suburban Beijing, one may mistake the neon-lit street for that of a modernized town. No one would ever expect the village that has a population of more than 20,000 people would have no sewage system. 

And it may not have one in the future, according to Zhang Peng, head of the village.

"The western half of the village's land was acquired by realty developer Poly Real Estate Group Co in 2004," Zhang said. "It is a matter of time that the village will be torn down to build high-rises, so it will be a waste to invest in the infrastructure."

"And we don't have enough money," Zhang added.

Only 30 minutes'drive from Zhongguancun, Beijing's biggest and busiest high-tech product area, Lengquan is one of the 17 villages that hold a large number of migrant workers in the capital's northwest suburb. The number of the strangers makes up two-thirds of the whole population in the area.

They are called "the floating population". They have no permanent homes and are always prepared to move. "Even the village they temporarily settled in is without its 'roots', a sewage system," said Zhou Lijuan, a social worker in the community center.

"Once the village is torn down, they will move to another one, farther on the outskirts." Zhou pointed to the WestHill Imagination, a modern neighborhood of apartment buildings built by Poly. "The other half of Lengquan village used to be there," she said.

When the construction of the WestHill Imagination began in 2008, thousands of construction workers and former residents there poured into the remaining part of Lengquan village.

The village of 3,000 people suddenly swelled to the size of a small town but on a smaller piece of land.

When the humid and scorching summer comes, the open-pit latrines in every household's backyard stink.

"I just cannot set my foot near the place," said Wang Zehao, a 19-year-old college student doing internship in the community center.

"I would rather walk 15 minutes to the only toilet at the gas station than go to the latrine. It is difficult to imagine how every one in the village has to live like this."

"I have to sweep away the maggots or my nine-year-old daughter won't go in there," said Hu Lina.

Hu Lina who works in a printing-consuming shop in Zhongguancun is one of those to relocate when their former "homes" were demolished.

Hu, her husband and her daughter live in a 14-square-meter room in a two-storey apartment where six families share a kitchen, a makeshift bathroom and an open-pit latrine.

It costs 1,000 yuan a month, one third of the couple's monthly income. "It is much cheaper than living in the city." Li Jun, Hu's husband, said.

Hu left her hometown Heilongjiang province for Beijing ten years ago because she thought "there are more opportunities in the big city".

"I also want my daughter to grow up in the big city so that her life can be different. People can learn more here and I hope she can go to a famous college," Hu said.

But things are not so easy in real life. Since Hu does not have a Beijing Hukou (a highly sought after residence permit), her daughter will have to return to Heilongjiang province after completing her nine-year compulsory education, according to the government's policy on migrant families.

"I don't want to leave. I was born in Beijing. My friends are here. I don't want to be alone," the nine-year-old mumbled.

The girl is now in the primary school in the village. “We cannot afford to send her to the schools in the city. They charge each child of migrant worker 30 thousand yuan as an extra fee,” Hu said, not willing to reveal the schools’ names.

But the education in the village cannot be compared with that in the downtown Beijing. "My boss's son studies in a famous school in the Haidian district and he is sent to classes to learn piano, tennis, English and painting after school," Li sighed.

"We love the city and want to call it home. But sometimes I feel detached, because no matter how hard I work, I feel like a stranger in the city," Hu said before she turned to her daughter.

"Mommy will earn a lot of money and get us a beautiful apartment with a flushing toilet. What do you say?"

The girl grinned and said "hurray".

Contact the writer at fanzhen@chinadaily.com.cn