How the eviction of Beijing’s migrant workers is tearing at the fabric of the city’s economy
Once-thriving businesses come to a standstill as authorities demolish ‘illegal’ structures to satisfy population caps
Lin Huiqing moved to Beijing to look for work when his children were still in diapers.
For the last 18 years, he has seen his family just once a year, the rest spent doing the hard labour most Beijingers would prefer to avoid.
The 50-year-old is one of hundreds of millions of migrants who moved from the countryside to the cities, a colossal demographic shift that made China’s ascent possible.
But last month Lin was evicted from the village where he lived on the capital’s outskirts, another victim of a citywide demolition plan to limit Beijing’s population to 23 million by 2020 – a target that could come at the cost of its economy.
“If I go home, I have no way to support my wife and kids,” Lin said.
Lin, like other migrant workers, fuelled his nation’s dramatic economic rise, toiling in jobs far from home, but he and others are now finding themselves increasingly unwelcome as authorities try to cap the population explosions in key cities.