Beijing mass evictions of migrants draw fire

Low-income workers struggling to survive

BEIJING — Zhou Xinci left her hometown in China’s struggling rust belt four years ago for Beijing with little more than the clothes on her back and a dream to one day save enough money to buy a home.

That dream is now fast unraveling as Zhou, 35, watches as her neighbors — other low-income Chinese migrants like her — are being hurriedly evicted from their homes on the outskirts of the capital by the government.

Authorities in Beijing have launched sweeping evictions of workers who have migrated from elsewhere in the country, triggering a public outcry over the treatment of people the city depends on to build skyscrapers, care for children and take on other lowly paid work.

Zhou, whose husband is a factory worker in Beijing, knows their family will soon be next and wonders how they will stay in the city and keep their 9-year-old son safe and in school.

“They are chasing people away from apartments and smashing things. How wouldn’t a child be scared? My son is scared and can’t sleep at night, of course I’m scared too,” she said.

Her family now pays 400 yuan ($60) a month to rent a single room big enough for their bed, a wardrobe, television set and refrigerator. But with soaring rents and rising discrimination against migrant workers, she says it will be impossible to find another room.

“They say Beijing people will feel heartache if they lose a dog,” Zhou said. “We are living people. How could they treat us like this?”

Workers interviewed by the AP say whole families have been evicted, often with little notice, leaving them scrambling to transport their belongings in the freezing weather. Many have had to pile their furniture, bags, bedding, clothes and other items into overloaded pickup trucks and vans, discarding kitchenware and other belongings that wouldn’t fit.

Last week, the city launched a 40day campaign to clear out tenants from buildings deemed unsafe after a massive fire killed 19 people at apartments rented mainly by low-income Chinese migrant workers.

The eviction drive has been met with widespread anger and criticism online, with people saying it has laid bare the stark inequality in China that prevents poorer migrants who provide essential services in cities from enjoying the same status as the cities’ residents.

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