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FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
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INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIJING 000872 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/01/2034 
TAGS: PGOV ELAB SOCI ECON CH
SUBJECT: NPC DELEGATE DISCUSSES MIGRANT LABOR, GRADUATE 
EMPLOYMENT, NPC EXPERIENCES 
 
REF: A. BEIJING 580 
     ¶B. BEIJING 649 
     ¶C. BEIJING 664 
     ¶D. 08 BEIJING 329 
     ¶E. SHANGHAI 103 
 
Classified By: Political Minister Counselor 
Aubrey Carlson.  Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1. (C) A rural Anhui Province delegate to the National 
People's Congress (NPC) recently told PolOff that his 
locality was trying to find jobs for more than 130,000 
unemployed migrants returned from cities and coastal areas. 
Despite efforts to encourage them to start businesses or 
obtain vocational training, most migrants would have to 
"return to the land" to "ride out" the economic downturn. 
The delegate did not expect returned migrants to be a source 
of significant unrest.  China would maintain eight-percent 
growth this year, and the financial crisis would not affect 
urban employment, he confidently predicted, noting that any 
rise in the urban unemployed would nevertheless pose a 
greater risk to social stability.  College graduates needed 
to "adjust their expectations" about employment and be more 
willing to accept entry-level jobs in the countryside. 
Negative votes cast against certain work reports at the March 
2009 NPC closing session reflected "local concerns" rather 
than broad dissatisfaction with the central government, the 
delegate claimed.  End Summary. 
 
LOCALITIES DEALING WITH RETURNING MIGRANTS 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶2. (C) Tang Linxiang (protect), a delegate to the National 
People's Congress (NPC) and Party Secretary of mostly rural 
Liuhe Prefecture in Anhui Province who had traveled to 
Beijing for the March 2009 NPC session (refs A-C), told 
PolOff on March 14 that his prefecture was using four methods 
to deal with the 130,000 unemployed migrants that had 
returned from the cities and coastal areas.  Tang (who 
participated in the USG's International Visitor Program in 
2000) said that out of his prefecture's population of just 
over seven million, 1.6 million were migrant laborers.  This 
year, 930,000 migrants had returned to Liuhe to spend Chinese 
New Year with their families, but only 800,000 had returned 
to the cities, leaving 130,000 behind.  (It was difficult to 
do a year-on-year comparison, Tang noted, because only about 
450,000 migrants had been able to return home for the New 
Year in 2008 because of major snow storms.  But, according to 
Tang, last year nearly all of the migrants had returned to 
jobs in the cities.) 
 
¶3. (C) To deal with the returned migrants, Tang said, the 
first thing his prefecture had done was to organize a migrant 
job fair in late February.  The fair had resulted in 30,000 
of the migrants finding work.  Second, the Liuhe Prefectural 
Government had set up a venture capital fund to provide loans 
and investment to help returned migrants start their own 
businesses.  Many migrants, he commented, had acquired skills 
and business know-how working in the cities, and this fund 
was designed to capitalize on that experience while also 
helping overall economic development in Liuhe.  Third, the 
prefecture had offered vocational training classes, such as 
in sewing or machine operation, to help migrants improve 
their "skill sets." 
 
¶4. (C) As a fourth measure to support returning migrants, 
Tang said, the local government had provided subsidies for 
seed and fertilizer.  Migrants had a choice of using the 
subsidies to grow crops themselves or rent their land to 
other farmers and live off that income.  Tang estimated that 
the subsidies and potential rent amounted to 500 RMB per mu 
(one-fifteenth of a hectare) per year.  In this way, land-use 
rights served as a form of "social security" for those 
holding rural resident status (hukou), a benefit urban 
residents lacked.  Tang stated that perhaps a majority of 
returned migrants in his prefecture would have to "return to 
(working) the land" in order to ride out the economic 
downturn. 
 
URBAN UNEMPLOYMENT THE BIGGER PROBLEM 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) Tang for the most part did not expect migrants to 
cause social unrest because they understood the effects of 
the economic downturn and therefore saw no point in "making 
trouble" (naoshi).  He was hopeful that the effects of the 
financial crisis would not last more than "two or three 
 
BEIJING 00000872  002 OF 003 
 
 
years."  So far, the economic crisis had not caused a drop in 
urban employment.  Nevertheless, a rise in urban unemployment 
could generate unrest that would be "more difficult to 
manage," Tang claimed.  The unemployment rate in the urban 
districts of Liuhe was just above four percent, one of the 
lowest rates in Anhui, he boasted.  Tang expressed confidence 
in China's ability to maintain eight-percent growth (baoba), 
stressing that doing so was "critical" to maintaining social 
stability.  China's economy was like a bicycle, he said, 
"unstable" if it moves too slowly, "dangerous" if it goes too 
fast, and "most stable" moving at a "moderately fast pace." 
 
COLLEGE GRADUATES MUST "ADJUST EXPECTATIONS" 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (C) College graduates had to "adjust their expectations" 
about employment in the current economic circumstances, Tang 
asserted.  Noting that there were three institutions of 
higher learning in his prefecture, he said that most college 
graduates had "unrealistic expectations."  Bemoaning the fact 
that most college graduates either wanted to head for the 
coast, go overseas or be handed a well-paying job as they had 
been under the old employment assignment (fenpei) system that 
ended in the mid-1990s.  Many college students nevertheless 
still thought about employment as it had been before China 
transitioned to a market economy.  College graduates needed 
to adjust to a market economy and start thinking about 
employment in a different way, Tang averred.  These graduates 
were "really needed in the countryside" to start businesses 
and use their know-how to assist with agricultural 
development, but for the most part they were not willing to 
live and work in rural areas, he lamented. 
 
CHINESE PEOPLE MUST BE "CONTROLLED" 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (C) Tang was dismissive of the proposal to stimulate 
employment by removing controls on certain aspects of the 
services sector, including media, education and religion, as 
advocated by some Chinese academics.  Revealing thinking 
common among many Chinese intellectuals, Tang argued that the 
average education level of most Chinese citizens was "too 
low" and that there were simply "too many Chinese people." 
Thus, without "tight controls," China could rapidly descend 
into "chaos."  Using the example of a hypothetical 
independent movie maker, Tang said that if there were no 
controls, a movie made by such a person might contain 
information that would incite the Chinese people, with their 
"limited powers of discernment," to react in "unpredictable 
(and dangerous) ways."  Therefore, it was important to 
"maintain strict controls" over certain areas of society in 
order to "protect the broad interests of the Chinese people." 
 
NPC POTPOURRI 
------------- 
 
¶8. (C) Having now attended his second NPC session as a 
delegate from Anhui, Tang provided the following comments on 
his experience: 
 
-- This year was less important:  This year's NPC was "not as 
important" as the March 2008 NPC, which was the first session 
of the new five-year 11th NPC and which had "elected" a new 
slate of government leaders. 
 
-- Negative votes are good things:  The "moderate increase" 
of negative votes on certain government work reports at this 
year's NPC closing session (ref c) reflected frustration with 
"local concerns" more than broad criticism of the central 
government.  Using the vote on the Supreme People's Court 
(SPC) work report as an example, Tang said the 500-plus 
negative votes had not been cast against the work of the SPC 
in general but rather served as a "protest vote" against 
court decisions or judicial behavior in delegates' local 
jurisdictions.  The negative votes would have been 
"unthinkable" during the Mao era, but today, negative votes 
were a "positive phenomenon" and showed greater tolerance for 
different viewpoints and a growing sense of "democracy." 
 
-- "Austere" environment:  There had been a strong push for 
"austerity" among government officials this year.  In 
particular, procedures for getting foreign travel approved 
were much more involved.  Tang commented that, last year, he 
had travelled to four countries in northern Europe (his 
daughter is a college student in Finland), but this year 
similar trips probably would not be approved, or would be 
curtailed, given the current "austere" environment. 
 
-- Greater media interest:  There had seemed to be greater 
media interest and participation in the NPC this year. 
 
BEIJING 00000872  003 OF 003 
 
 
Having just completed eight days of innumerable meetings at 
the NPC, Tang joked that he had often been tired but had 
nonetheless been careful not to fall asleep in meetings 
because cameras were everywhere.  If a photo of him nodding 
off at the NPC were published, Tang feared, it could "end his 
career." 
PICCUTA