Beijing village orders migrants to pay 2,000 yuan a month

A Beijing village is levying a monthly fee of 2,000 yuan ($ 295) on every migrant worker living there, a move that the village committee claims will encourage the migrants to leave because they have made the village “dirty and messy.”

The Qiuxian village in Southern Beijing’s Daxing district has decided to ask each non- local resident in the village to pay 2,000 yuan per month from August 1, news site caixin. com reported Sunday, citing a notice from the village committee.

Non- locals who run businesses in the village, such as stores and restaurants, should pay 1,000 yuan per person each month and an extra 5,000 yuan annually for each business.

The fees include bills for sanitation, water, electricity and public security services, and anyone who fails to pay will not be provided with any services and will be forced out. The notice adds that the decision is to “realize the target of zero migrant population in the village.”

Daxing district government Saturday confirmed the decision on its Sina Weibo account, saying that the influx of migrant workers in recent years has deteriorated the village environment and local residents’ quality of life, making the village dirty and messy.

“Irregularities like water supply stoppages and power failures, rising public security hazards, and vehicles parked in the wrong locations, have severely inhibited the villagers’ benefits and triggered the masses’ complaints,” said the post. “The decision was made after a string of recent conflicts and fights between the migrants and villagers failed to be solved under the mediation of police and village of- ficials,” it added.

Daxing government said that all the fees collected will be used for public utilities such as electricity equipment and sanitation services.

“The decision made by the small village in Beijing’s suburbs is actually an epitome which reflects the hidden conflicts between local residents in big cities and the migrant population,” said Niu Fengrui, a research fellow with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

“The conflicts between the two sides are mainly caused by the change of benefits distribution along with population mobility and social structure changes,” Niu said.

More than 100 migrants, who are now living or working in the village, account for 10 percent of the total village population, caixin. com reported.

It is not known if the fee is also to be levied on migrant children.