On the morning of June 29, Shenzhen city government decided that by Oct. 31 this year, all the registered permanent residents will be changed into city dwellers, and the former collective-owned land will be nationalized.

Shenzhen will thus become China's first city without village and farmer. The above decision was announced at the "Urbanization Experiment in Bao'an and Longgang Districts & Popularization and Mobilization Meeting" which was held that same morning.

In 1993, Shenzhen expanded its special zone scope, and started the first urbanization process, however, Bao'an and Longgang districts retained both urban and rural patterns in its management system and mechanism. According to initial estimations, currently Shenzhen has about 2,000 villages, over 200 of which are within the zone, and there are 300,000 private houses within the zone.

Ten years have passed, today on the basis of summarizing the urbanization experimental work in Bao'an and Longgang districts, the Shenzhen city government has made this decision: As of July this year, the urbanization work of these two districts will be carried out in an all-round way; by Oct. 31, all the towns under the rural organization system in the two districts will become subdistrict offices, and villagers' committees will be changed into neighborhood committees, and the current 270,000 farmers will all turned into urban residents.

The Shenzhen city government on June 29 also promulgated "Measures for the Administration of the Urbanized Land in Bao'an and Longgang": after all the members of the two districts' collective economic organizations are changed into urban residents, the originally collective-owned land that belonged to the members will be nationalized; government departments in charge should carry out unified planning for the land involved, and strictly control its use; appropriate compensation should be granted by stages and in batches to units or economic organizations and individuals succeeding the two districts' collective-owned organizations.

Shenzhen's bold move bolsters farmers' rights

Rural residents of Shenzhen are suddenly the envy of their countryside cousins in the rest of China. Under China's household registration system, being a rural resident or an urban dweller means a world of difference, said a commentary by China Daily.

Compared to their urban peers, rural residents receive few, if any, social benefits offered by the government.

Being branded a rural resident means no access to pension, healthcare and other social security and welfare services, which are privileges enjoyed only by urban residents, although all Chinese citizens are equal in constitutional terms.

When it comes to infrastructure, however, governments at all levels are engaged in a race against time to modernize. Thus the emphasis has always been on cities. In contrast, little has been spent on the vast under-developed rural areas.

The heavily-skewed focus on cities and neglect of the countryside has resulted in a so-called dual-structured society in China in which the urban-rural divide is growing.

That is why getting an urban identity has remained high on most rural residents' wish lists.

Calls for bridging the urban-rural divide and giving equal rights to rural residents have been growing in recent years and progress of varying degrees has been scored in different places.

Shenzhen's move, to instantly transform 270,000 rural residents into urban dwellers, is the boldest and most comprehensive.

With their new status those rural residents will be entitled to the same treatments as their urban cousins, including access to social welfares that have long been denied them.

A change on such scale is no doubt a mammoth burden on local finance. Beyond that, the city will have to provide adequate jobs for those farmers once their land is taken back into State hands or help them adjust to the new urban life.

By People's Daily Online