Beijing faces exodus of immigrants

Wang Hong, who graduated this July from a university in the south of China, worked as an intern with a fashion magazine in Beijing. But the ambitious fresh graduate soon felt defeated by the city's skyrocketing rents and long commute times.

At first, Wang rented a tiny studio apartment with meager facilities in the city's distant suburbs for 1,000 yuan (US$157) a month. The overpriced, shabby room frustrated Wang, who grew up in a well-off family.

Considering that she had to work overtime until midnight from time to time, Wang later decided to share a flat closer to her company in the downtown area for 2,300 yuan per month. The higher rent cost her most of her salary and forced her to seek help from her parents.

One month later, Wang started to question her decision to stay in the capital city due to a deep homesickness and inability to adapt to the new environment.

"I won't stay in Beijing anymore, I am going to return my hometown after the internship ends," Wang said.

In the past two years, Beijing's high rents, rising property prices, and property and vehicle purchase restrictions for those without permanent residence have led many migrants, including young college graduates, to turn away from Beijing.

According to figures recently published by Beijing Statistics Bureau, the city had 8.25 million registered temporary residents in 2011, 600,000 fewer than in 2010.

The statistics report is based on the data from the local police, who count the number of temporary residence permits issued. But the report figures are not reliable, due to the fact that many migrants do not apply for the permit, according to professor Lu Jiehua with the Population Institute of Peking University.

Such a sharp drop in migrants is very rare in Beijing, despite the fact that the number of temporary residents in the city has been declining in recent years, Renming University of China's Professor Wang Qi said.

After Beijing underwent economic restructuring, its economic growth slowed and the demand for migrant laborers decreased, Wang said. On the other hand, the economic downturn resulted in a loss in wages, which, together with rising living costs in Beijing, compelled some migrants to leave the city, he added.

In 2011, registered migrants in Beijing hit a record high of 20.19 million. In the past ten years, the population of immigrants jumped by 400,000 year-on-year, putting additional stress on the already overcrowded capital.

In 2010, various Beijing districts implemented policies to control the rampant inflow of migrants. The city's Xicheng District, for example, focused on developing its financial district, which attracted high-end talents and edged out lower-end laborers.

These measures have influenced the city's population to some extent and contributed to the decrease in temporary residents, Lu said. But this economic restructuring was not the main factor in such a sharp decrease in migrant population, he added, attributing the swift decline to a series administrative measures taken by the city since 2010.