The central government could end the mainland's household registration system that controls the movement of migrant workers within 20 years, according to a top government think tank.
Lu Mai, secretary general of the China Development Research Foundation, said his group advised the government to phase out the hukou system of residency permits over two decades by assimilating 20 million migrants a year into cities, where they could build their own homes and schools.
'We have 200 million migrants who left their hometowns for coastal cities or large cities,' Lu said.
'Policies towards the migrants changed in the late 1990s as the government became aware that the whole system was supported by such migrant workers. And so [then] Premier Zhu Rongji said we should treat them fairly and policies then changed step by step,' he said.
As a result migrant workers are now free to choose their jobs, but they are not covered by the social welfare system.
'One suggestion is that we abolish the system overnight. But in reality we need to think first about how to build the infrastructure - the houses, schools and hospitals - and also how to provide jobs,' Lu said.