Migrants wary as China launches census
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BEIJING — Tan Jianguo and his wife are migrant workers who have lived in a dirty rundown alleyway in a Beijing suburb for the past 10 years, eking out a meagre living for themselves and their two small children.
Tan works as a handyman and locksmith, while his wife sells fried pancakes from a street stall outfitted on a three-wheeled bicycle. But neither is a legal resident of the capital, and they may have violated the one-child policy.
The 35-year-old native of Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing, fears that when China’s census takers come knocking from Monday, he and his family could face the heavy hand of the law in the world’s most populous nation.
“It will be hard to avoid the census takers when they come. I’m still not sure what I will do,” Tan, a short man with bushy hair and thick dirty hands, told AFP.
“I can either stay here and report my situation or I can take my family home and let the census takers count us there... or we can just hide.”.... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101101com3.html
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