VZCZCXRO4658
RR RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHGZ #0027 0170745
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 170745Z JAN 08
FM AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6805
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS GUANGZHOU 000027 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
STATE FOR EAP/CM, DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB PGOV CH
SUBJECT: Migrant Workers Elected to Guangdong People's Congress for 
First Time 
 
 
¶1. (U) For the first time in Guangdong province (and perhaps in 
other provinces as well), six migrant workers were elected to the 
eleventh Guangdong People's Congress.  According to local press 
reports, the six, elected by municipal-level people's congresses, 
could well represent more than 30 million migrant workers in the 
province. 
 
¶2. (U) The six migrant workers are: 
 
-- Ma Xiaofeng, female, from Heilongjiang Province, working in the 
Quality Control Department of the Guangzhou Pearl River Piano 
Group; 
 
-- He Xiyun, female, from Hunan Province, working as a cleaner at 
the Guangzhou Jingjing Cleaning Company; 
 
-- Zhang Zhiya, male, from Jiangsu Province, working at the Shenzhen 
Jiade Property Management Company; 
 
-- Wei Xiaoming, female, from Sichuan Province, working as an 
administrative assistant at the Shenzhen KXD Multimedia Company; 
 
-- Fang Weizhen, female, from Hubei Province, working at the trade 
union at the Guangdong Fudi Auto Company in Foshan; and 
 
-- Zheng Xiaoqiong, female, from Sichuan Province, working at the 
Dongguan office of the Minghao Trading Company. 
 
¶3. (U) According to Deputy Chief of the Election Committee of the 
Guangdong People's Congress Standing Committee Yang Chengyong, 
candidates elected as "migrant worker representatives" must meet 
three criteria: their hukou, or residency permit, must state that 
they are a "rural resident;" the hukou must be registered outside of 
Guangdong Province; and they must be real workers, not management. 
In the same news report, Yang also said that the Guangdong People's 
Congress would elect one of the migrant worker representatives to 
the National People's Congress this year. 
 
¶4. (U) COMMENT: These developments may stem from a 2007 speech in 
which National People's Congress Standing Committee Vice Chairman 
Sheng Huaren noted that representation of farmers and workers in the 
National People's Congress had been in decline.  In his speech, 
Sheng said that, "in provinces and municipalities where there is a 
high presence of migrant workers, there should be migrant worker 
representatives."  Though contemporary news reports heralded the 
speech as "great progress in China's democratic politics" and as a 
signal that the "highest-ranking power institute has come to pay 
attention to the constitutional rights and social roles of migrant 
workers," it remains to be seen whether membership of a token number 
of migrant worker representatives in the already underpowered 
People's Congress (with its 790 representatives) will make any 
noticeable difference. 
 
GOLDBERG