Only thing missing from plans to help migrants are the migrants themselves

Helping migrant workers integrate into local society has never been so critical for Guangdong policymakers.

Following riots triggered by conflicts between local villagers and workers from other provinces in June - the worst in the province in decades - local governments in the Pearl River Delta are rushing to implement new measures to win over the more than 17 million migrant workers in the region.

Dongguan, which, as home to most of the province's migrant workers, has been dubbed the 'world's factory', has established the mainland's first self-governed residential communities for migrant workers. The China News Service reported that at least three such communities had been set up in Zhangmutou township by last month, all led by migrant workers.

In Guangzhou, for the first time, three migrant workers were 'elected' to the city's people's congress early this month. All three are workers in Zengcheng, on Guangzhou's northeastern outskirts, where the worst rioting occurred.

Several thousand migrant workers in Zengcheng's Xintang township demonstrated on the streets in June, smashing cars and setting fire to government buildings to protest at perceived injustices. The riots lasted for five days until troops were sent in to restore order.

And in Zhongshan and Guangzhou, top leaders have echoed a call by the Dongguan city government few years ago to replace the term 'migrant worker' with new ones, such as 'new Guangzhou people' or 'new Zhongshan people'.