Urbanization is a hot issue at the ongoing annual session of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature.
NPC deputies are discussing how to achieve higher quality urbanization in China.
At the West Railway Station in Beijing, a migrant worker surnamed Chang is waiting to board on train to Shanxi Province.
As a construction worker, Chang often moves from one construction site to another and lives in makeshift dwellings.
"There are no industries in my hometown. I can do nothing but till the land there. If I could find a job in my hometown, of course, I would return. Who wants to leave home and suffer like this? But I think currently the difference between villages and cities are still very big. Village is village, city is city. They are different."
NPC deputy Liu Li is a migrant worker from Anhui Province. She says without an urban hukou, or household registration, migrant workers can't enjoy same public services as their urban counterparts.
"Can the government ease the restrictions of the household registration system and allow migrant workers' children get access to the same schools as their urban counterparts? Don't establish so-called 'schools for migrant children,' which seems to be a form of discrimination. Also, the new rural cooperative medical scheme should be combined with the urban medical insurance system. Otherwise, migrant workers can't have access to medical insurance in cities."
Chinese primere Wen Jiabao said in his government work report that China's urbanization rate is more than 52 percent.
But NPC deputy Zhang Zhaoan, who is also an expert on rural economy, says many of the 260 million migrant workers are not truly urbanized.
"The biggest problem of traditional urbanization is that the development of the social system is left behind by the expansion of cities. The two aspects should be in step with each other. Urbanization is not simply relocating rural population in cities. A new urbanization model should focus on systematic reforms such as the hukou system and social welfare system."
The central government now is promoting a new urbanization model that shifts from one that is capital-driven to one that is people-oriented.
Xiazhuzhuang Sub-district in Tianjin Municipality is considered as a model of urbanization reform.
It takes 40 minutes to drive from Xiazhuzhuang to downtown Tianjin. Making full use of its geographic advantages, the local government built industrial zones on farmland and provided jobs to farmers who lost their land in the process.
Also, thanks to a land consolidation program, villagers all moved into newly built apartments.
Gao Nailin says he now owns four apartments.
"The apartments are much better than my old bungalows. The living environment and facilities have been improved. Now we have tap water and recycled water systems, a heating system as well as a natural gas system here."
But NPC deputy Zhang Zhao'an says not all of China's rural areas can develop according to the same model.
"Rural areas in a favorable situation with industries and convenient traffic can develop into small cities. However, it's impossible for some remote areas to be urbanized. People there will leave to seek better lives if they can."
The National Development and Reform Commission said an outline of China's new urbanization plan would be issued in the first half of this year.
